


Unexpected Bedfellows

by OfTheDirewolves



Category: The Originals (TV), The Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Caroline Forbes & Enzo St John Friendship, Caroline/Enzo/Bonnie/Katherine friendship, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Katherine/Caroline/Bonnie friendship, Road Trip, Sharing a Bed, The Mikaelsons are Witches, Vampire Caroline Forbes, Witch Klaus Mikaelson, Wolf Klaus Mikaelson, not Salvatore friendly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 08:31:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 34,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16446389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfTheDirewolves/pseuds/OfTheDirewolves
Summary: Klaus Mikaelson and Caroline Forbes are basically sworn enemies but when a mystery brings them together, they realize two heads are better than one.They embark on a journey to find the mysterious moonstone but might actually find themselves along the way. Both of them are searching for a place to belong but can they find that belonging in each other?





	Unexpected Bedfellows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashleighxx](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashleighxx/gifts).



> This is my first time writing Klaroline so please be gentle. As usual I was going to write a smaller fic and well that’s not what happened clearly. My brain apparently only knows “go big or go home” there’s no other option. 
> 
> In relation to certain mentioned Originals characters, I’m sorry if they’re out of character but I only barely watched the last season. But I liked them so I wanted to include them. 
> 
> Thanks to Lenna for being amazing and helping out when I was blocked!
> 
> To my giftee: I really hope you like this!

  

 

 

   

* * *

 “Breath in, Breathe out,” Caroline told herself as she sat in the middle of her living room in the lotus position. Caroline was a vampire so she technically didn’t need to breathe but she still liked to go through the motions, especially while doing yoga. It had been a stressful week, so she was hoping a bit of yoga would calm her anxiety. Caroline loved being a vampire and the freedom that it had brought to her life, but it did have its downsides. Every aspect of her personality was heightened, even the bad ones. Especially the bad ones. Human Caroline was insecure, neurotic and a perfectionist, Vampire Caroline even more so. Nothing quite like heightened senses to get your anxiety running wild, and that’s where the yoga came in.

 It didn’t always work. Especially when you had roommates like hers.

“I’m just saying it was my kill, I did the hard work, I got him cornered and then you sweep in and steal him away, it’s not fair,” Enzo complained.

“You snooze, you lose St. John you know that,” Katherine said as she threw herself on the couch behind Caroline.

“He was an AB negative you know how rare that is?” Enzo said frustrated.

“About 0.6 percent of the population, he was delicious.” Katherine teased.

“Do you two mind? I was trying to concentrate.” Caroline muttered.

“I see you’re still on the yoga kick,” Katherine replied.

“I am trying to center myself,” Caroline said.

“You know what would be good for your anxiety and your issues?” Katherine asked with a semi-innocent smile, of course, nothing about Katherine could ever be innocent.

“Don’t say it,” Caroline said.

“A good fuck,” Katherine answered.

“I think I’ll stick with the yoga thanks,” Caroline replied.

“I’m just saying it’s been like what? 6 months since you broke with what was his name?”

“Tanner,” Enzo suggested trying to recall the name.

“No that, wasn’t it? Started with a J, I think.” Katherine responded.

“Jace?” Enzo said.

“That wasn’t it either,” Katherine said.

“It was Jesse,” Caroline said, putting them both out of their misery, her friends were terrible with names. They would deny that if she mentioned it though, and Kat would make a comment about how Caroline’s exes were too boring to remember.

“Then who was Jace?” Enzo wondered, the name was stuck in his brain and he was trying to figure out where he knew it from.

“I think you’re thinking of Jaycee, she was my girlfriend a few years back,” Caroline answered.

“Ah yes, she was the redhead right?” Enzo asked.

“That’s the one,” Caroline said.

“Whatever happened to her? She was cute.” Enzo said.

“Kat killed her.” Caroline reminded him.

“She was cheating on you with that mousy wolf bitch friend of hers. Which is completely ridiculous because you are much hotter than the girl she fucked you over with.” Katherine explained.

As a rule, Katherine didn’t care about people or other creatures. Surviving is easier when you don’t get attached. But there were a few people who were the exceptions to that rule and even those you could count on one hand. Sure Katherine was selfish, but she was also extremely loyal to her core few. And no bitch with a bad hair dye was going to make a fool of her best friend.

“I remember she tried to imply that I was sleeping with you and Bonnie,” Caroline said remembering the arguments. Bonnie Bennet was the other member of their little group. She and Caroline had grown up together and gone through their own life-changing events together. Bonnie was a witch and while vampires and witches typically didn’t get along, the girls didn’t let prejudices get in the way of their friendship. It hadn’t always been easy, but they had made it through and were stronger for it.

“You’d be so lucky, I’m a catch after all,” Katherine said with a smirk.

“You’re making my point for me, I have no interest in a relationship right now,” Caroline said.

“Who said anything about a relationship, I’m talking about a one-nighter,” Katherine replied.

“Leave it, Kat, you know how picky Gorgeous is.” Enzo pointed out.

“That’s true,” Katherine said.

“So darling, what brought on this evening’s yoga?” Enzo asked, knowing something had to have happened to get Caroline in this state. Normally she just stress-cleaned and then that helped, if she resorted to yoga something big happened.

“Had a run-in with Damon if you must know. He made a few of the usual comments about how he’s surprised I haven’t died yet.” Caroline said, finally giving up on yoga and taking a seat on the couch next to Enzo.

“You should have let me kill him last time,” Katherine mumbled.

“You can’t kill everyone who is mean to me Kat,” Caroline said fondly.

“Excuse you, I’m a vampire I totally can. I’m pretty sure it’s in the friend rule book or something. Plus, it’s Damon Salvatore literally no one other than his idiot brother would miss him.” Katherine retorted.

“Maybe, but then you’d be proving his point.”

“What even is his point?” Enzo asked.

“That I can’t protect myself,” Caroline said.

“That is bullshit, you’re one of the strongest vampires I’ve met, and I’ve been alive for quite a while. Not to mention no one has adapted to vampire life as well as you have.”

“Or as quickly as you have,” Katherine said, getting up and going to sit next to Caroline.

“And is he forgetting his brother? Stefan is a disgrace to vampires. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and all that.” Enzo said

“You know what we need to do?” Katherine asked.

“What?” Caroline wondered. Katherine with an idea was never good.

“We need to go out, so go get dressed! Put on one of your sexy outfits. I promise alcohol is much better at helping you forget the douchebag’s comments than yoga will ever be.” Katherine said.

“I’m in, what about you Gorgeous?” Enzo asked.

“Fine, but you’re calling Bonnie and convincing her,” Caroline said.

“Done deal, Bennet loves me.” Katherine joked.

“Sure she does,” Enzo replied. Bonnie and Katherine got along because of Caroline. Enzo suspected their love of their mutual friend was the only thing that kept them from pulling each other’s hair out from time to time. They probably did like each other deep...deep down, but for the most part, they just bickered a lot.

“I’m going to go get ready then,” Caroline muttered, heading off towards her room.

Caroline knows her friends are right, but sometimes it’s hard to get outside her head. Especially when she had to deal with Damon Salvatore. She regretted the day she ever met him. Caroline wasn’t even supposed to be a vampire, her turning was an accident in every way.

She met Damon when she was 19. She had deferred going to college for a year because of personal issues and so she was there when he came to town. He was the bad boy and for Caroline, who had grown up with a distant mother and an absentee father, the attention he gave her was everything. Bonnie hated him from the start, but Caroline felt rebellious. Damon was nice at first, but it quickly turned sour. He was a vampire who used her for sex and for blood. It didn’t matter if she fought him or at least tried to, she could never beat him. After all, she was just a human girl.

She tried to escape him many times, but he’d always find her. She met Katherine during one of the escape attempts. For some reason that neither one of them fully understands; Katherine decided to help her. Enzo once suggested that the state Caroline had been in, reminded Katherine of how she herself had been as a human and that’s why she decided to help. Katherine had helped Caroline heal some of her wounds and had given her the number of a person who could help her get away from Damon.

Caroline had been on her way to that address when her car was totaled. Caroline Forbes, age 20, died on impact. But since she had Katherine’s blood in her system she was reborn. Caroline’s life had changed once again. In her confusion, she completed her transition by feeding on the paramedic taking her body to the morgue. She stopped herself from killing him and compelled him to forget. Suddenly she could remember everything that Damon had done to her. Her friendship with Bonnie had been slightly fractured from the Damon situation and being a vampire didn’t help.

 Still, Bonnie made her a daylight ring with the condition that Caroline needed to learn how to control herself. She left town not wanting to hurt anyone, and because her mother couldn’t-wouldn’t look at her. In her travels, she met Enzo and he taught her how to be a vampire. Caroline decided she wanted to go to college and Enzo decided to go with her.

Ironically enough, that led to them crossing paths with Katherine again. Then came the mess with the Augustine Society, which ended up creating an unshakable bond between the three vampires. Caroline has had encounters with the Salvatore brothers over the years and even though she knows Damon is full of shit, there’s a part of her that craves to prove him wrong.

* * *

“I thought the point of having employees was to have them do the grunt work,” Klaus complained as he carried another of the boxes from the truck to the back of the store.

“I’d have to pay them extra to come in on a Saturday, and why would I do that when I can get my brothers to do it for free.”

“So basically free labor is all we’re worth to you Freya?” Kol said opening the back door for Klaus and Freya.

“Shut up Kol,” Freya said as they made their way inside. Freya’s shop sold everything from flowers to essential oils, crystals or books. Humans thought it was just a hipster shop and that’s how Freya liked it. Only those that knew about the supernatural knew that Freya was a witch.

“Kol if you’re not going to help, move out of the way,” Klaus said coming in with a heavy box in his hands.

“Nik, this isn’t your bar, you can’t boss me around, you know,” Kol pointed out.

“I’m a hybrid and I’m older than you, I can always boss you around,” Klaus responded.

“Can you be considered a hybrid if you never actually transform?” Kol asked and received only a glare from his brother as he stormed away.

“You know better than to touch that subject Kol,” Freya told him.

“It just slipped out,” Kol said weakly not even believing his own words.

“Kol, he is finally reaching out to us again, if you continue being a dick he’ll leave again and who knows if we’ll get him back this time.” Freya reminded him. Freya loved her brothers, well Klaus and Kol that is, but they were certainly complicated. Neither one of them was easy to get along with, Klaus was prone to anger while Kol was mischievous. They tended to clash on a lot of situations.

“Maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing,” Kol muttered under his breath.

“Kol.”

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

“Why don’t you get the rest of the boxes from the truck and then go park it where it should be, the last thing I need right now is a ticket,” Freya asked although it was more of an order than a suggestion. Something Kol was well aware of as he took the car keys from her and headed out the door. Freya walked into the store to where Klaus was organizing the new shipment of books she had gotten.

“You know he only says that to push your buttons right?”

“Well, he succeeded,” Klaus muttered.

“The way he said it left a lot to be desired, but he does have a point,” Freya said.

“About what?”

“You can’t deny your wolf Nik, he is as much a part of you as your magic is,” Freya told him softly.

“All it’s done is bring me problems, I don’t have a coven because of the wolf, but I’m not actually a werewolf so I can’t have a pack either.” Klaus reminded her before going back to organize the books. Just like that Freya knew the conversation was over.

 Niklaus Mikaelson was a very powerful witch, who came from a long lineage of powerful witches, dating back to the Original Witch. His entire family was full of witches, Freya was the oldest, followed by Finn, Elijah, then it was Klaus himself, and the twins Kol and Rebekah. He used to have a younger brother Henrik but he’d been killed by werewolves when he was 13 years old.  

Klaus still remembers that day as if it had been yesterday. After that, his life changed irrevocably. Not only had he lost his beloved brother, but the Mikaelson Coven became a different place. Klaus had never had the easiest time in the coven, his father Mikael was the head of the coven and Klaus was his favorite punching bag. It got worse after Henrik died, as Mikael blamed Klaus for it. Everything culminated in the day he was forced to show his wolf. As it turned out Mikael was not his father after all.

Klaus had been the product of an affair between a werewolf and a witch. His father had been away on business and Esther had an affair that resulted in Klaus. After the news came out he had been kicked out of the coven. Klaus was only 17 at the time. Freya had been the only sibling that had stood by him. Well, the twins had wanted to come, but both Freya and Klaus knew it was better for them to stay where they were. Ultimately Klaus told Freya to do the same and pushed her away before she could reject him as well.

For the most part, Klaus ended up teaching himself magic, but a friend of his had helped out in teaching him spells he couldn’t learn by himself. Even so, Klaus learned to rely only on himself. After all, if he got into trouble, no one would come to save him. Not having a Coven did bring him more freedom than other witches had, it meant he could travel the world without being tied down to any one place. Some days he even believed the words that came out of his mouth.

Being a wolf had always brought him joy as a child, even if his mother always said it was a secret. Of course, now he knows why it had to be kept secret, but at a young age, you don’t care about things like that. What child wouldn’t love turning into a wolf after all? The day Hendrik died was the day he knew his wolf and the werewolves were different. A year after that he was basically out on the streets. He’d had no need to bring the wolf out again in these last 10 years.

* * *

 Caroline had to hand it to Katherine, she had been right once again. A night out was just what she needed. A night out dancing with her closest friends. Even Bonnie had come out, she’d been dating some new guy that the group had yet to meet, and he had recently taken most of her friend’s time. Caroline didn’t mind as much because, for the first time in a long time, Bonnie actually seemed happy.

“So Bon-Bon Carebear here says you’ve got a new guy. So spill the beans! Is he cute? Is he human, witch, vampire? You don’t seem the type to go for werewolves. Does he give incredible orgasms,” Katherine said, spouting out the questions.

“Is sex all you care about Kat?” Caroline asked.

“Orgasms are important Carebear!” Katherine exclaimed.

“There are other things that matter in a relationship!” Caroline retorted.

“You’re just bitter because all of your exes have been subpar. Seriously, you have the shittiest luck in the sex department.” Katherine said.

“Hey, Tyler was good!” Caroline exclaimed.

“Tyler was your first Care, and it was back in high school. I remember you complaining he didn’t always like to go down on you.” Bonnie said.

“Can you believe that’s her best relationship so far? It’s so sad. At least I find hot strangers that give good orgasms,” Katherine said.

“Ladies put the claws away we’re here to have fun remember?” Enzo reminded them.

“You’re right, but I do still want to hear about Bennet’s new beau,” Katherine said.

“To answer your earlier questions, yes, he’s very cute, he is a witch and he does give really good orgasms,” Bonnie answered.

“I like him already,” Katherine said.

“Oh, you would, he can be a moron at times, he thinks he’s god’s gift and for some reason not even I understand I find him charming,” Bonnie explained as she gestured with her hands.

“Well the heart is a very mysterious thing, you never know who you’re going to fall for,” Katherine said before getting up and going towards the bar.

“That was slightly bizarre,” Bonnie muttered.

“That’s Katherine Pierce for you,” Caroline said, but she figured there was more to her best friend’s comment about love. She would have to ask her about it when they got back home. There’s no way Kat would spill around these many people.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Enzo said.

“I’m going to get us some drinks and then we’re going to dance,” Caroline remarked getting up and heading towards the bar.

 

On the other side of the room, Klaus looked around to see the bar brimming with people. This club belonged to an acquaintance of his, Klaus didn’t really have friends. He liked to come from time to time to check out the competition.  And it was one of the best places to get information.

Not to mention his siblings never came to this particular club, so he could spend some time alone here. After the day he’d had, some alone time with a whiskey would do him some good. He was at the bar when he overheard someone talking to the bartender about a moonstone. Could it be the moonstone? This night just got a lot more interesting. He saw the man leave the bar and head towards a table in the back. The bartender handed him his drink and Klaus puts on his most charming smile before heading towards where the man was.

* * *

 Klaus walked into his brother’s apartment feeling on edge. His relationship with Elijah could best be described as testy. Elijah had this idea that he was the moral brother and that he needed to save Klaus from himself. Personally, Klaus thought it was all just misplaced guilt. After all, Elijah hadn’t even lifted a finger to help him when Klaus had gotten kicked out of the coven. Klaus did love his brother, he might not be as close to him as he was with Freya, Rebekah or dare he say it, Kol, but he still cared about Elijah. It could be worse, he could be like Finn or like Mikael.

 The other reason why their relationship was complicated was that Elijah was a vampire. Klaus could never feel too comfortable around vampires, even if one was his brother. Elijah had never been one to cherish their magical gifts which is why when he heard about what happened it had come at no surprise. Rebekah suspected there was a woman involved but Klaus wasn’t completely sure. His brother being a vampire didn’t change the facts. Elijah Mikaelson was still a man of many connections. If anyone knew anything about the moonstone, it would be him.

 “Niklaus to what do I owe this late visit?” Elijah asked, handing his brother a cup of tea as they sat down on the couch in the living room.

“What do you know about the moonstone?” Klaus asked, getting right to the point.

“The Moonstone, haven’t heard that word in quite a while,” Elijah muttered.

“So you know about it?” Klaus asked.

“Of course I do, and so should you,” Elijah said.

“Why?”

“Because Mikael was obsessed with it, he believed it held the power of immortality for witches. The vampires believe it will help them walk in the sun and the werewolves think it will remove the moon’s hold on them.” Elijah explained.

“What do you believe?”

“I believe that most of that is probably false, but there’s still truth amongst the lies,” Elijah said

“Elijah I’ve no time for your riddles.”

“I don’t think this will help vampires walk in the sun or do anything to the werewolves. I think those parts were invented to make the creatures want the stone.”

“You think Mikael invented the legend?” Klaus said reading between the lines.

“I think that Mikael doesn’t like getting his own hands dirty, so if he can get someone to get the stone for him, it’s better,” Elijah explained.

“Typical Mikael,” Klaus murmured.

“Exactly, I’ve investigated the story and I can tell you the stone is important. I’m almost certain that whoever can find it and cast the spell will be benefitted whether they be vampire or witch.”

“What’s the fine print?” Klaus wondered.

“No one has heard anything about its location or where to start looking for it for many years. It’s as if it’s vanished completely.

“Perhaps it hasn’t.”

“What do you know Niklaus?”

“Someone told me quite the story tonight,” Klaus said smirking as he went on to tell Elijah everything the man had told him earlier that night.

* * *

“So you remembered you live here, that’s good,” Caroline muttered not even looking up from the puzzle she’s working on as Katherine tried to sneak back into the apartment.

“It’s not that late.”

“It’s noon.”

“Okay point taken, what time did you guys leave the club last night?”

“I think it was around 2, Bonnie went home to her mysterious witch boyfriend while Enzo and I came back to the apartment and played poker,” Caroline said.

“Well once you hear the news I’ve got for you-you'll change your tune,” Katherine said.

“What news?” Caroline asked looking up for the first time since Katherine came in.

“I’ve got a foolproof way of getting the Salvadicks off your back and proving once and for all you’ve got the grit,” Katherine said. She didn’t doubt for a second that Caroline was perfectly capable of handling herself as a vampire but she knew this was important to her friend.

“Keep talking.”

“What do you know about the moonstone?” Katherine asked with a smirk on her face.

 Caroline stopped working on her puzzle and turned towards her friend. And so Katherine told Caroline all she knew about the moonstone, including the rumors that had recently come to the forefront. It was all very intriguing, to say the least. Caroline could see the merit in it.

 “How did you find all of this out?” Caroline asked once Katherine had finished talking.

“Pillow talk. If you ever want a man to reveal his secrets, pillow talk is the way to go.” Katherine said with a smirk.

“If you say so,” Caroline said with a smile.

* * *

 Caroline was at the library trying to figure out Katherine’s clue. It was driving her crazy, she didn’t know what “they only bloom in adversity” could mean. The only thing that came to mind was the movie _Mulan_ and she somehow doubted that had anything to do with the moonstone.   

Caroline slammed the book closed in frustration, this was leading nowhere. Why did she listen to Kat again? To be fair her idea did have merit and knowing Katherine her source was probably legit. Katherine had been walking this earth for quite a long time so she’d established a long line of contacts. Not to mention she had more money than she knew what to do with. Something that she and Enzo definitely benefitted from.

She had been scouring over libraries and such for a week to no such luck. She’d even opened one of her dad’s old journals for even a hint of the moonstone story. Say what you want about her dad but the man was definitely meticulous. He had heard about the moonstone but had written it off as a rumor.

There was one more place she could check. It was a longshot but maybe she needed to look at this from a different angle. She grabbed her things, walked out of the library and headed down the road. There was an old video store next to a graveyard. When she had been younger she’d thought it was curious. Of course, the video store had been out of business for quite some time, streaming really was the final nail in the coffin for them. But the building was still there, it was just abandoned.

She made sure no one was looking as she made her way inside. That’s when she felt the eyes on her again. For about a week, maybe more she’d been feeling like someone was following her and yet there was no one there. The first times she had written it off as just paranoia but now it was starting to piss her off.

“You can come out now or I swear I will rip you into pieces,” Caroline threatened and that’s when she heard the laugh but no one appeared.

“I have Pepper spay and I am not afraid to use it,” Caroline shouted grabbing the pepper spray out of her bag. That’s when she saw him. He was a blond man wearing a grey henley with dark jeans, a black leather jacket and a wolf tooth pendant around his neck. He definitely wasn’t a human and she since she could hear his heartbeat she knew he wasn’t a vampire.

“A vampire with pepper spray now that is a new one,” Klaus said with a smirk that showed off his dimples. Caroline most definitely did not think they were cute.

“And I’m not afraid to use it,” Caroline threatened, standing her ground.

“I can see that,” Klaus remarked, highly amused by the situation.

“You’ve been following me,”

“More like we keep ending up at the same place and I have to admit it makes me curious,”

“Curious about what?”

“You’re looking for the moonstone,” Klaus said leaving no room for argument, of course, Caroline is a master at arguing and never backs down from a challenge.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Caroline said feigning ignorance.

“I might not be a vampire but I can still tell when you’re lying,”

“You know vampires aren’t real right? I think you might have hit your head or something, do you want me to call someone for you? If you’re in this state you probably shouldn’t drive,” Caroline said ignoring his last statement.

“That’s an interesting defense, I’m assuming it usually works for you,”

“I don’t have your sunstone or whatever it is,”

“You are looking for it, otherwise what would you be doing here?” Klaus asked looking at the place, it was a curious place to hide the next piece of the puzzle. He wouldn’t have even thought of it if it wasn’t for Freya. He’d seen the quote on display in her shop and since it was quite similar to his moonstone clue he had asked her about it.

Freya had told him it was from a Disney movie, Klaus didn’t remember which one she said honestly. He’d done a search and found this particular store and its intriguing location. So he figured this had to be it, imagine his surprise at seeing the blonde vampire. He’d seen her at the library from time to time, at first he didn’t think much of it. Then she’d been at another one of his leads and even then he wrote it off. But her being here? That was definitely not a coincidence, she was looking for the same thing he was.

He didn’t know if she had anyone helping her but either way he was impressed. He’d been keeping his ears to the ground to see if anyone got close to the moonstone but so far nothing. It seemed that people couldn’t crack the code and would just give up.   

“I’m looking for a movie obviously, we’re in a video store,” Caroline said walking through the isles of movies. The store might have been abandoned by its owners but it had not been cleaned out considering a lot of the movies were still there.

“Like you can’t watch it on Netflix?” Klaus asked

“This particular one isn’t on Netflix and just between us, I don’t feel like paying for another streaming site just so I can watch one of my favorite movies in HD. Not that it’s any of your business but I still like the ritual of getting a Blu-ray or DVD don’t you?” Caroline said innocently as she found her intended target. The only copy of Mulan that was still in the store, she grabbed it and put it in her bag. She’d examine it when she got home away from prying eyes.

“And I’m supposed to buy that?” Klaus asked amused.

“Here’s a thing you probably aren’t used to hearing, I really don’t care what you do. If you want to believe me or not that’s your prerogative,” Caroline said with a smirk and then walked out the door leaving him standing there. Oh, this girl was interesting and Klaus did love a challenge.

* * *

 Caroline’s gut feeling had worked out in her favor. Inside the Mulan Blu-ray box had been a key and she’d never been more thankful for her Disney obsession as a child. She had gone back to the graveyard two days afterward with Katherine and Enzo. The key had opened a locked door that contained a wooden box. Inside had been a crystal, two old notebooks, a map, and the next clue. She was going to wait a few days before trying to decipher the next clue just in case anyone was watching.

The interaction with the blond had been close, way too close. Katherine had said he was probably a witch or a werewolf when she’d told the other two about it. Thankfully she’d been able to distract him and get away by using her tried and true trick of playing the dumb blonde. Everyone always expected blondes to be dumb and Caroline knew exactly how to take advantage of it. She hadn’t felt any eyes on her since that afternoon so maybe he had given up.

Either way, Caroline had wanted to celebrate getting the first piece of the puzzle, take that Salvadouches! So they had gone out to dinner and to get some drinks and were barely getting back to their apartment. They headed towards the door as Katherine stopped abruptly.

“Wait there’s someone inside, a witch.”

“Bonnie?” Caroline asked.

“You think I wouldn’t recognize her scent. Plus she’s been here so many times her scent basically blends with ours, this is a new scent. It’s oddly familiar but I can’t place it.”

“Well can we go inside I’m tired and hungry no random witch is going to keep me from my snacks,” Enzo remarked.

“Just be on your guard St John you never know,” Katherine muttered as they walked towards their apartment and Caroline opened the door with her key.

The door hadn’t been forced open so that was a good sign. Caroline would have hated having to change the locks. Enzo always tried to do it himself and ended up making it worse so Caroline had to call a locksmith and that was always a hassle.

 

As she opened the door she was met with the same smirk that had been following her, so much for him giving up.

“Lovely home you have darling.” He joked.

“This is private property how did you even get in?” Caroline asked.

“I’m a witch love, locks are no match for me,” Klaus remarked.

“Kat, remind me to put a hex on the door, something that prevents arrogant Brit witches from getting in,” Caroline said.

“We’ll leave you two alone to talk. Where are those snacks you were raving about St. John.” Katherine asked Enzo, looking at him with the expression that said he had to go along with her or else.

“They’re in the bedroom so we should go get them and make ourselves scarce,” Enzo said agreeing with her current game plan.

“Enzo, don’t you dare,” Caroline complained.

“Sorry gorgeous! ding-dongs await!” Enzo exclaimed.

“Really? Ding-dongs? That’s what you were raving about?” Katherine muttered.

“They’re delicious!” Enzo retorted as they made their way out of the living room leaving Caroline alone with their guest. She really needed to get new friends.

“Do you normally break into places where you’re not wanted?” Caroline asked.

“Only where you’re concerned.”

“Aren’t I lucky,” Caroline said sardonically.

“You should be nice to me, I come with an offer.”

“I should be nice to the witch that broke into my apartment? Let me think about that. Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“Either way my offer is still a good offer.”

“I don’t make deals with witches, don’t trust your lot all that much.”

“Says the woman who drinks blood to survive,”

“You know where the door is, feel free to see yourself out,” Caroline said and started walking towards their bar.

“What if I said I knew where the next piece of the puzzle was,” Klaus said as Caroline stopped in her tracks, just as he knew she would.

“You’re bluffing,” Caroline said, there was no way he knew because _she_ was the one with the clue.

“The way I see it you seem to want this as much as I do, and you ended up at the same place I was so you’re clearly intelligent. So why not just put our heads together and make it easier for both of us.” Klaus suggested.

“What’s in it for me?” Caroline asked although she hated to admit it sounded slightly logical.

“The pleasure of my company,” Klaus said with a smirk.

“Next,” Caroline said with her arms crossed.

“You’re obviously a very clever vampire, I am quite a strong witch and like I said two heads are better than one. Also who knows maybe working together is exactly what we need to get to the Moonstone. A vampire and a witch working together with a common goal? It’s the last thing anyone would expect.” Klaus pointed out.

“I’ll think about it,” Caroline said as he handed her a card with his name and a number on it.

“Call me when you decide, take a chance, Caroline.” He said before he walked out the door, leaving Caroline to her thoughts.

* * *

 Caroline was pacing across her bedroom after having told Enzo and Katherine all about Klaus and his offer. She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do.

“I don’t know about this Gorgeous, why don’t you just forget this whole moonstone business?” Enzo wondered.

“I can’t abandon it now I’m too intrigued not to see it through,” Caroline pointed out.

“And you’re like a dog with a bone when you get an idea, you really don’t drop it,” Katherine remarked.

“If I don’t work with him I’m still probably going to have to deal with him every step of the way,” Caroline said.

“That’s true and you said he did show up at the video store so he’s definitely clever enough to look for clues,” Katherine reminded her.

“Yeah, and as much as I hate to admit it, there’s not a lot I know about witches and I’m still not great at recognizing magical signatures so having a witch around could be helpful,” Caroline said.

“You can’t really trust him though,” Enzo said.

“Who said anything about trusting him? Maybe I’ll just use him to get to where I want to go,” Caroline said.

“I smell a devious plan,” Katherine said with a smirk.

“If I’m working with a witch it will be easier to get other witches to talk to me, and this whole thing might actually require some spellwork at some point. If Klaus is on my side, then I don’t have to look for some random witch or attempt to call Bonnie,” Caroline explained

“What happens when you get to the end?” Enzo asked

“Well then I’ll take the moonstone for myself and leave him with nothing,” Caroline said with a smirk.

“I have to say I have never been more proud,” Katherine said and wiped away a fake tear.

* * *

 Klaus was packing things into a suitcase as Freya just sat at his desk staring.

“I can practically hear your thoughts Freya, just say whatever you want to say,” Klaus said.

“You seem awfully sure that she’s going to say yes,” Freya said.

“I do have a way with people you know this,” Klaus said.

“Do I know that women are normally charmed by your smile and your pretty face? Yes, I do. I also remember you telling me how she duped you with the movie thing.” Freya reminded him.

“She didn’t dupe me, I knew she was looking for the moonstone,” Klaus argued, but even he knew it was a weak argument. He’d told Freya about how he’d looked throughout that graveyard and found nothing. All he had found was a locked door with no key. Freya had asked him about what movie the vampire had taken and had laughed for a good 10 minutes when he’d told her. He’d been appropriately confused, so she had explained once again that the quote she had in her store was from Mulan and that the blond vampire probably knew that.

“She duped you Nik, you were too busy trying to look beneath the surface and go through the usual motions you didn’t see what was in front of your face,” Freya explained.

“That’s why I suggested we work together. Two heads are better than one and I think we’ve proven we definitely see things differently,” Klaus said

“I know you Nik. Even if she does say yes, and there’s no guarantee that she will, I mean she did get ahead of you without your help. You’re not exactly a team player,” Freya said, trying to phrase it in the best way possible.

“Gee, I wonder why that is,” Klaus muttered darkly.

“That’s exactly the attitude I’m talking about, you always take things personally. I know exactly why you react this way, but what’s to stop you from reacting like this with her,” Freya said.

“She’s a vampire I think she would be able to handle a mood swing,” Klaus stated.

“If you attack her, she might attack you back; and no amount of witch aptitude will save you if a vampire decides to drain you,” Freya said.

“Trust me Freya I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can but it’s my job as the older sister to worry,” Freya pointed out.

“And I do appreciate that, truly,” Klaus said softly. If anyone other than Freya said any of these things he’d have already hexed them, and they both knew that.

“I do have a plan you know?” Klaus said after a moment of silence.

“What is your plan?” Freya asked.

“I’ll work with the vampire and get the clues. Maybe her curious insight will actually be helpful. At the very least I won’t be bored. Then when we get to the end I’ll just take the moonstone for myself.”

“You’re already planning to betray her?” Freya wondered.

“It’s better I betray her before she betrays me, I’m getting that moonstone,” Klaus said with an air of finality. He had to get it, it was his ticket back into the Coven. There’s no way they’d deny him if he had the moonstone in his possession. Freya sighed and walked towards the door.

“I just hope you know what you’re doing,” She said before walking outside his room and closing the door behind her.

 A few minutes later he got a text from an unknown number, just an emoji of a crystal and a blond girl with the words “I’m in”. Klaus smiled as he saw it.

“It’s showtime,” He said to no one in particular before he sent back a response.

* * *

“Wait a second you’re telling me you, Niklaus Mikaelson, are going to be working with a vampire,” Kol wondered incredulously. When Freya had told him what Klaus was planning he’d thought she was bluffing. There was no way Klaus would willingly work with a vampire. He wasn’t exactly fond of them.

But now here they were waiting at Freya’s store for the vampire to arrive. Freya had a meeting with a supplier so she couldn’t be here and asked Kol to be here instead. Frankly, Kol thought Nik was a grown man and a damn good witch so he could probably handle some vampire. But he was too curious, not to see this through.

“Yes Kol for the last time, I am working with a vampire. I’m not compelled, it was my plan, to begin with.”

“Are you sure you’re not compelled? Because compelled people normally don’t realize they are compelled.”

“I’ve got my necklace, and you know I actually drink vervain.” Klaus reminded him showing him the rosary he wore around his neck.

“I’m just checking.” Kol said then turned towards his brother, “what if the vampire gets hungry?”

“Then I guess you’ll be down one brother, not much of a loss he seems like kind of a dick,” Caroline said with a smirk coming up next to them with Enzo.

“Is this her?” Kol asked his brother who nodded.

“She has a name,” Caroline muttered.

“My apologies, a woman as beautiful as you deserves my full attention, I’m Kol Mikaelson,” Kol said grabbing her hand and kissing it. Before either knew it Enzo was in front of Caroline.

“Keep your hands to yourself,” Enzo said.

“Seriously!” Caroline exclaimed, looking at Enzo, “He’s harmless.”

“You know that from 2 mins of knowing him?” Enzo asked.

“I trust my intuition,” Caroline said, Klaus and Kol looked intrigued at the back and forth between the friends. Enzo scoffed at Caroline’s words.

“I’ll remind you my intuition got us out of the problem with the Russian that you put us in.”

“Hey, no fair, you know that was mostly Kat’s fault not mine.”

“You’re the one that punched him.” Caroline reminded him.

“Yeah, well he deserved it, he was looking at you like he wanted to eat you.”

“As if I’d let him, he wasn’t my type,” Caroline smirked.

“So are we good to go?” Klaus said interrupting them.

“I still don’t get the reason for meeting up here, you get to see where I live but I don’t see where you live? That hardly seems fair.”

“Out of the two of us which one is a creature of the night?” Klaus retorted.

“Which one is the car?” Caroline asked, ignoring his comment.

“It’s the black one.”

“Like your soul, I wager?” Caroline remarked.

“I like this girl Nik,”  Kol joked.

“Well then, make yourself useful and help me with the luggage,” Caroline said, throwing her car keys at him.

“At the lady commands,” Kol said following after her leaving Enzo and Klaus alone.

“If you hurt one hair on her head, make her cry one tear, you’ll deal with me,” Enzo said looking serious for the first time since they had arrived.

“Caroline seems like she can take care of herself,” Klaus said in lieu of an answer.

“She can, but she doesn’t have to,” Enzo replied.  

“Enzo please tell me you’re not being a Macho idiot,” Caroline said.

“Just delivering a message from Katherine Gorgeous,” Enzo replied.

“Tell Kat she’s not my mother, I can take care of myself.”

“I mean, if we’re going by vampire terms, she technically is though.” Enzo joked causing Caroline to smile.

“Sure, why don’t  _you_ tell  _her_ that.”

“I like being undead thank you very much,” Enzo replied.

“Exactly, I’m doing this and you’re not changing my mind.”

“I’m well aware I was overruled just take care of yourself Gorgeous,” Enzo said giving his friend a hug.

“Make sure Kat doesn’t get into too much trouble,” Caroline said.

“I’ll try my best, B and I will watch out for her,” Enzo said.

“Thank you.” Caroline said and turned towards Klaus, “Are we leaving or what?”

“Just waiting for you, love.”

“Don’t call me love. I have a name, use it.” Caroline retorted as she walked towards his car.

“Whatever you say, love,” Klaus responded following behind her.

“They’re either going to kill each other or fuck each other,” Kol said once the car had taken off and they were out of hearing range.

“It might be a little bit of both,” Enzo replied.

* * *

 Caroline stared at the window as they made their way out of town. It had been another successful venture and one more place to cross off their map. One place closer to the actual location of the moonstone. They had been on the road for 2 months now and while they had made leeway with their findings, their personal relationship wasn’t exactly great.

Frankly, because Klaus got on every single one of Caroline’s nerves. Caroline had to admit he was smart and he had a keen understanding of things, not that Caroline would ever admit it,  _at least not to his face._ She could already see the smug expression on his face if he learned that she actually respected any side of him. Yeah, it was better not to say anything at all.

“What’s next on the list?” Klaus asked.

“According to the map our next location is Missouri,” Caroline explained, looking at their bewitched map. The map had been in the first box Caroline had found. 

Whenever they managed to acquire the next clue the map itself told them where to go next. Klaus was almost certain that a powerful witch had been behind this moonstone adventure, there was no way to explain it otherwise.

“That is another day’s ride so you might as well get comfortable love.”

“Can anyone get comfortable when you’re the one driving?” Caroline quipped.

“I am a perfectly good driver.”

“If you say so. Witches aren’t exactly known for their driving skills.” Caroline muttered.

“My kind made your kind and don’t you forget it,”

“How can I when you won’t shut up about it?”

“If you’re not nice to me, I might decide I don’t want to help you after all, and we’ve established this journey needs a witch,” Klaus said with a smirk. They both knew he was bluffing, they were too far in to back out now.

“I’ve got Bonnie on speed dial,” Caroline said, not that she’d bother her friend with this, but he didn’t need to know that.

“How did Bonnie Bennett end up with your lot?” Klaus asked, clearly referring to Katherine and Enzo.

“We grew up together, she’s my best friend.”

“Small world.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Bonnie is a friend of mine, she and her Grams helped me a lot when I needed it,” Klaus explained, he wasn’t sure why he was telling her this, it was like his brain just blurted out everything when he was around her.

“You’re the stray witch?” Caroline asked amused.

“Stray witch?” Klaus asked confused.

“A couple of years back Bonnie said her grandma had taken in a stray witch. She had been very surprised to come home from our Greece trip and find that her Grams had basically adopted a witch.” Caroline said reminiscing.

“There were some spells I couldn’t teach myself so I was glad to have Sheila and Bonnie to help,” Klaus admitted.

“Yeah, they’re pretty wonderful.” Caroline agreed.

“Bonnie and I became friends, she’s one of my only real friends now that I think about it.”

“I know the feeling, my friend circle is basically Bonnie, Katherine, and Enzo,” Caroline admitted.

“You don’t trust easily do you?” Klaus asked.

“Neither do you,” Caroline pointed out.

“I guess it’s just another thing we have in common,” Klaus said

“I guess it is,”

“So you know who Bonnie is dating?” Klaus asked changing the subject.

“No, she keeps changing the subject all I know is that she’s happy. Oh, and that he’s a witch, who is good looking and gives good orgasms, Kat asked about that last one.” Caroline said with a laugh.

“That is too much information about my brother.”

“Your brother?” Caroline said, turning to look at him.

“You remember Kol right? The guy waiting with me outside of Freya’s shop?” Klaus explained

“That’s who Bonnie is dating?” Caroline asked surprised.

“I introduced them, well, sort of. He dropped by my apartment one day while Bonnie was there and the rest, as they say, is history,” Klaus said.

“I would not have seen that coming.”

“Trust me, neither did I.”

“He’s a good guy, right? Because Bonnie deserves to be happy.”

“Yeah, he’s a good guy under the bravado, and I can tell you he adores her,” Klaus admitted.

“Truly?”

“Yeah, I’ve never seen him like this with anyone, it’s like she brings out a whole different side of him,” Klaus said, and it was true. He’d never seen Kol act the way he did when he was around Bonnie. No one could say his brother wasn’t in love with the Bennett witch, it was written all over his face.

“What’s wrong?” Caroline asked, noting as his face changed.

“Nothing is wrong.”

“Try again.”

“Look, I’m happy for them because they deserve happiness but...”

“But What?”

“I just think It’s foolish,” Klaus admitted.

“Love is never foolish.”

“Oh please Caroline, don’t be naive, love by its very definition is foolish. It’s a weakness.” Klaus said and then heard her scoff, “you disagree?”

“I think that’s a childish take.”

“Do enlighten me, oh wise one.”

“Love doesn’t make us weak, it makes us strong. It gives us something or someone to fight for.”

“It involves sacrificing a part of yourself and acting like a fool.”

“Maybe it does, but it’s a matter of trust. You trust that the other person is also giving up a part of themselves to you. You trust that the love you give will come back to you,” Caroline said softly.

“And how many times has that worked out for you,” Klaus remarked and saw the pain come across her face, “that’s exactly my point. Why would I choose to get hurt over something as ridiculous as love?”

“Maybe love is ridiculous and yes, I haven’t had the easiest go at it. I’ve been hurt more times than I can count, but that doesn’t mean I stop trying. I know one day that love will be returned.”

“I will say it again, it’s foolish.”

“I’d rather love too much than never love at all.” Caroline bit back.

“Well, that’s your prerogative sweetheart.”

“Have you thought that maybe you don’t relate to people because you don’t even try to understand them?”

“Tread carefully Caroline.”

“What are you afraid I’ll tell you something you already know?” Caroline told him and as the car stopped at a gas station she got out of the car.

“Where are you going?” Klaus asked.

“I’m getting something to eat,” Caroline said, walking into the 7/11.

 A few minutes later she got back into the car, grabbed a blanket from the back seat and put her earphones on. She was done talking to a brick wall like Klaus.

* * *

“Bon-bon! You’re here! I thought you had that thing with your new beau tonight?” Katherine asked.

“I do, it’s here,” Bonnie explained.

“Does that mean we get to meet said beau?” Katherine wondered and Bonnie laughed but called Kol over.

“Hello, beautiful.”

“Kol these are my friends Katherine Pierce and En-.” Bonnie started to say before her boyfriend interrupted, recognizing the guy standing in front of him.

“Enzo right?” Kol said remembering.

“Enzo St John and you’re Kol Mikaelson,” Enzo said.

“You two know each other?” Bonnie asked.

“We weren’t actually introduced last time.” Enzo said and turned to Katherine and Bonnie, “He was with the witch.”

“And Enzo here was accompanying the vampire that left with my brother,” Kol explained.

“Wait. Caroline is the vampire that left with Klaus?” Bonnie exclaimed, getting surprised at how tiny the world really was.

“Your Caroline and Nik’s Caroline are the same person? This is a small world.” Kol said with a laugh.

“I can’t believe I didn’t connect the dots. Klaus left with a Vampire and Caroline with a witch.” Bonnie said.

“It is a weird coincidence.” Enzo murmured.

“How do you know the hot witch Bon?” Katherine asked.

“Hot witch?” Kol asked.

“I only met him once and I didn’t know his name so I’ve just been calling him the hot witch,” Katherine explained nonchalantly.

“Klaus and I have been sort of friends for a while now, neither of us has a coven so we ended up doing a lot of work together. Grandma Sheila felt bad about his situation so she taught him a few important things. He is also the reason I met Kol.” Bonnie explained and then remembered what she wanted to ask, “What are you two doing here?”

“Well, I suspect this small world of ours is about to get even smaller.” Enzo joked.

“How?” Bonnie asked.

“This is where Katherine’s booty call lives,” Enzo said.

“Booty Call, you’re sleeping with one of my siblings?” Kol asked, amused, trying to figure out which of his siblings it would be. His money was on Freya or maybe even Rebekah.

“Apparently,” Katherine said.

“Please tell me you’re not here as a weird sex thing.” Bonnie wondered.

“Oh please St. John could never be so lucky,” Katherine said.

“Right back at you Pierce.”

“He’s here as moral support because Caroline is off with her hot witch being Veronica Mars,” Katherine complained.

“You were the one that said she should go and gave her the idea of the damn mystery in the first place,” Enzo said.

“Well, I didn’t know she was going to be gone this long,” Katherine said with a pout.

“It’s been 4 months,” Kol said.

“Let’s just say they don’t have the nickname codependent trio for nothing.” Bonnie joked as they both stared at her.

“You all live in the same house, wherever you go, you live together. Where there’s one of you there’s usually the 3 of you.” Bonnie said with a smirk.

“Well, we can’t be a codependent trio if we’re missing one part of our trio.” Katherine pointed out.

“We stay together because Katherine is loaded, Caroline is technically a vampire runaway and I’m too pretty to work,” Enzo said jokingly. 

It was easier than saying that their shared experiences and trauma made them a family. It was easier than saying they had all ended up kidnapped or tortured in some way when they had been alone so they tried not to stray too far apart.

 Katherine had been stuck in a tomb, Enzo had been tortured by the Augustine Society and Caroline had been kidnapped and tortured multiple times. So they protected each other.

“Let’s go inside the house shall we?” Kol said.

“I’ll be right in I just need to make a call,” Katherine said, sounding slightly nervous to Bonnie’s never-ending surprise. She’d never known Katherine Pierce to be nervous.

“We’ll see you inside,” Bonnie said as Kol put his arm around Bonnie and three of them went inside. Katherine had motioned for Enzo to go with them. They walked inside to find Freya and Rebekah in the kitchen while Elijah was drinking wine at the counter.

“You can stop crying your favorite brother has arrived,” Kol exclaimed.

“Last I checked Nik was still out of town,” Freya remarked.

“You wound me Freya! Truly!”

“You’ll survive.” Freya said and walked over to greet Bonnie, “Bonnie it’s always great to see you.”

“Likewise Freya.”

“I can’t believe you managed to sleep with Nik’s only friend Kol,” Rebekah said.

“Hello Bekah I have missed your strumpet self,” Kol said looking at his twin.

“Children seriously, what will Miss Bennet think of us.”

“She’s friends with Nik and is dating Kol I don’t think anything can truly shock her Elijah,” Rebekah said, grabbing her glass of wine before setting her eyes on Enzo who had been quiet so far.

“You’re new.” She said.

“That is a keen observation,” Enzo replied.

“What are you doing here?” Rebekah asked.

“I'm here with -“ Enzo started to say as Katherine walked inside in typical Katherine Pierce fashion, no trace of her earlier nerves.

“Katerina, you made it,” Elijah said, standing up to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“I did not see that one coming,” Kol said to his girlfriend.

“Katerina these are my siblings, Freya, my older sister and the twins Kol and Rebekah. Miss Bennet is Kol’s girlfriend.” Elijah said, introducing her to the rest.

“Bonnie and I know each other Elijah,” Katherine said.

“We go way back,” Bonnie said.

“We live in a very small world, Elijah. Apparently, Bonnie’s friend Caroline is the same Caroline, who is working with Nik. Not to mention she’s their best friend as well.” Kol said, signaling to Kat and Enzo.

“That is peculiar,” Elijah remarked.

“As you heard I’m Katherine and this is Enzo St. John, he is... He is my family,” Katherine said, it was one of the first times she’d actually called Enzo family, to his face. Enzo was oddly touched.

“Katerina,” Enzo said with a smirk surprised that she was letting anyone get away with calling her that.

“Shut up Lorenzo.” Katherine retorted.

“Since introductions have been made why don’t we move into the dining room, the food should be ready any minute now,” Freya said.

* * *

 Klaus and Caroline were walking out of graveyard slightly frustrated. They hadn’t been able to decipher the latest clue, or well they had got it wrong. Because it was definitely not here. This trip had taken a lot more time than Caroline had ever anticipated. It had been all kinds of mind-boggling and the craziest part was that she is starting to maybe see Klaus as a friend. But perhaps that was just because she’d spent 4 months in close proximity to him. She did have to admit he wasn’t as much of a dick as she first thought. He was still a dick, but to a lesser degree.

 “I can practically hear your sigh Caroline,” Klaus said as they made their way to the car.

“Well good because you led us to yet another dead end,” Caroline retorted.

“Hey, my Intel was good we must have gotten something mixed up along the way,” Klaus argued.

“Excuse you, my translation was wonderful,” Caroline said, getting in the car.

“If it was as good as your math, then it’s no wonder we found nothing,” Klaus said as he got into the driver’s seat.

“I’ll remind you, it’s thanks to me that we found the last two pieces, this one just seems to be trickier,” Caroline said

“Truce, I think we’re both a little on edge right now, we just need to regroup and look at the clue from the start, maybe there is something we missed,” Klaus stated as he drove towards the main streets.

“We know things are bad when you start making sense,” Caroline muttered.

“Why don’t we get something to eat, maybe with food in our systems we could actually figure this out,” Klaus suggested.

“I could definitely go for a plate of onion rings right now,” Caroline said.

“That sounds like a plan,” Klaus said as he parked the car near one of the shopping centers. This way they could go get some food, get Caroline her onion rings and stop by to see his contact. Freya had a friend who had a store here; so Klaus was going to check if they knew anything that could help them out. Maybe she’ll know something they don’t and it will be the missing puzzle piece. That way they can get back on the road tomorrow.

Of course, you know what they say about best-laid plans and all that. They had been walking towards the restaurant just talking about random things when it happened. Caroline didn’t notice where she was walking when she quite literally ran into someone. Klaus was about to make a quip about how her supernatural abilities were supposed to make her more graceful when he saw the look on her face. Caroline and the random man kept staring at each other in silence and for once in his life, Klaus wasn’t entirely sure what he should do.  

 “Stephen, I didn’t see you there,” Caroline said, the last person she expected to see was Stephen and it was throwing her even more off balance.

“Clearly, guess those instincts of yours don’t always work, huh?” Stephen said with a frosty attitude and Klaus saw as Caroline’s demeanor change completely.

“How have you been?” Caroline asked, trying to make conversation with the man who at one point had been a part of her family.

“How do you think? And what gives you the right to ask?” Stephen questioned and every time he said something Klaus’ urge to punch him got stronger.

“I’m still me, I’m still Caroline,” Caroline said softly.

“The girl I knew died in a crash, you’re something else, something unnatural,”

“Hey mate, tone down the attitude,” Klaus said

“I don’t have to listen to you  **mate** ,” Stephen said mockingly.

“Stephen,” Caroline said, putting every emotion she had into a single word. Pleading with him to see that she was still the same Caroline she always was. All that had changed were her eating habits.

“I didn’t get to say goodbye to the man I loved thanks to you, and you think I’m going to give you any more of my time? Bill’s mistake was going back to Mystic Falls, all your lot brings is death,” Stephen said and then walked away leaving a shattered Caroline in his wake.

“The restaurant is just a few stores away, you want to head there and then we can go see Freya’s friend?” Klaus asked after Caroline had been quiet for a few minutes. He’d never dealt with a quiet Caroline before and it was slightly unnatural. Despite his claims that he didn’t care about his vampire partner, he was definitely worried about her.

“I think I’m going to call it a day and head back to the motel, I’m no longer hungry,” Caroline stated.

“Caroline, don’t listen to him, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Klaus said, he didn’t know why it was important to him that Caroline believed him, it just was.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about me, I’m just a little tired. A nap would do wonders if we’re going to continue looking.” Caroline said

“I’ll go see if Freya’s friend knows anything we don’t and I’ll see you back at the motel,” Klaus said caving, he had a feeling that if Caroline was anything like him, and the last 4 months proved she was, she would need time to unwind. So he would give it to her.

“Sounds good, I’ll see you later,” Caroline said before she sped away leaving Klaus standing there. He rubbed his head and headed in the direction of the shop he was looking for. 

* * *

Freya watched everyone carefully, her sister was toeing the line between flirting and bickering with the new guy. Kol and Bonnie seemed to be enjoying themselves. Elijah seemed more interested in his phone than in his non-girlfriend, but that was Elijah for you. Dinner seemed to actually be going pretty well. There had been no death threats or threats to cause bodily harm, or well not many.

 After all, you couldn’t put the twins in the same room and expect there not to be threats. Freya just hoped the slight peace lasted till the end of the meal, or at the very least until dessert. She’d made an apple pie from scratch and it was not going to go to waste.

“So Katherine, I’m curious about something,” Kol asked.

“What are you curious about Kol?” Katherine responded with her own question.

“You called Caroline, Veronica Mars, why?” Kol wondered.

“It’s the leading character in a show called Veronica Mars, has Bonnie never shown it to you?” Katherine asked looking at Boonie in shock.

“I know the show, I was just what the relation was,” Kol said.

“They have similar characteristics, they’re both blondes, neither of them trusts law enforcement despite having a parent who was or is in law enforcement. They’re both slightly jaded but still marshmallows. They both have an absentee parent and have lost people, not to mention the fact that Veronica is a private eye and Caroline right now is doing her own kind of investigating.” Katherine said and then smirked, “There’s also the attraction to jaded good looking blonde men with daddy issues,” she said dropping the last part as nonchalantly as the rest. Freya almost choked on her drink.

“You really think my brother is a Logan?” Rebekah asked.

“I’ve met him once and I got the “I’m using the cocky asshole vibe as a mask” feel,” Katherine explained.

“Takes one to know one right, Kat?” Enzo joked.

“You would know Enzo,” Katherine retorted.

“Touché,” Enzo said, lifting his wine glass.

“The thing is that she’s not wrong, Nik does have a shitload of daddy issues,” Kol said.

“He also has abandonment issues from mother,” Freya added, her brother’s main problem was Mikael of course, but his relationship with Esther hadn’t been much better. It had broken apart after Nik was cast out and they never mended fences before her death.

“I can’t believe you’re right again,” Enzo said looking at Katherine.

“I told you my record is impeccable,” Katherine said.

“What is she right about?” Bonnie wondered but she had a feeling she already knew the answer.

“My impeccable sexdar. No one fools me and my sexdar,” Katherine said proudly.

“Sexdar?” Kol asked.

“It’s like a gaydar except for sexual tension. I have an almost perfect record of predicting who got laid or if ppl will end up sleeping together,” Katherine stated.

“It’s true, she does,” Enzo said, taking a drink, “I thought she might have been off in her latest prediction but now I’m not so sure.”

“You think my brother and your friend are going to hook up?” Rebekah asked putting the pieces together.

“The moment he showed up at the apartment, I just knew,” Katherine said.

“There was no way to predict what would happen. Caroline leaving on a road trip with an unknown witch is not a variable even your sexdar could have predicted,” Enzo pointed out.

“Okay, I didn’t predict the road trip and so far there’s no instance that they have hooked up, but  **they will** I’m sure of it,” Katherine argued.

“How are you so sure?” Bonnie asked.

“He broke into our apartment and was waiting for her to come back and she didn’t kick him out. Caroline might still technically be a baby-vamp, but she’s still physically stronger than a witch, that’s just the facts. Instead, she just stood there and snarked at him. That’s when I knew she’s going to end up banging the hot witch,” Katherine stated.

“I thought she was crazy when she told me because Caroline fucking a witch? Not exactly her type. But if he’s broody and has similar issues to hers? Oh, she’s definitely hooking up with him,” Enzo said.

“That will either end up in blood or in tears,” Bonnie muttered.

“Or in tears of blood,” Katherine said.

“It might end up well,” Kol said and pretty much everyone stared at him, “it might take a bit of time, but maybe they’re exactly what the other needs.”

“Kol has a point, from the times I’ve talked to her Caroline seems like a good person and once you get through to him Nik is not actually a bad guy,” Freya said, but whatever anyone was going to reply was interrupted by the sound of a phone ringing. Enzo looked at his phone and noticed Caroline’s photo had come up so he got up and walked outside to the balcony.

“Speak of the devil, hello Gorgeous are your ears ringing?” Enzo said.

“Hey Enzo, is Bonnie there? I can’t seem to get through to her.”

“Are you okay? Did the witch do something?” Enzo asked, getting worried as she sounded very un-Caroline.

“He didn’t do anything, I just need to talk to Bonnie.”

“Yeah She’s here I’ll get her,” Enzo said coming back inside to where everyone was talking. The room got quiet when they saw the expression on Enzo’s face.

“What’s wrong St. John,” Katherine asked as Enzo gave Bonnie the phone.

“It’s Caroline she wants to talk to you.”

“I’ll be right back.” Bonnie said to the group as she grabbed the phone, “hey Care what’s going on.”

_“I’m a terrible person,” Caroline said._

“I don’t know what happened, but I can guarantee you’re not a terrible person. You’re one of the best people I know.”

_“No, I’m not, I literally drink people’s blood.”_

“You’re kidding me, right? Few vampires have the control you have. You mostly stick to blood-bags and you try not to hurt people unless they deserve it. What is this really about Care?”

_“We saw Stephen today.”_

“Oh, I’m guessing that didn’t go down well,” Bonnie muttered, knowing Caroline hadn’t seen her stepfather since before she became a vampire.

_“Understatement of the century Bon.”_

“What happened?”

_“I’m a terrible person.”_

“You’re not a terrible person.”

_“You didn’t see how he looked at me, Bonnie. Stephen was the one that came to all my events, even when my own parents couldn’t come. He was always there when I was sad or when someone broke my heart. Whenever my parents argued he’d always cheer me up. Remember how he used to take us to that ice cream place 30 minutes out of town?”_

“I remember.”

_“He used to love me, Bonnie, I know he did. I wasn’t just his stepdaughter, I was his kid as well. He’d always looked so proud of me and now, I’ve never seen Stephen look at me like that.” Caroline said softly and Bonnie could tell her friend was close to tears._

_“Why do people stop loving me, Bon? Am I that messed up that it’s easy for people to decide to just stop loving me?” Caroline muttered._

“You don’t need them Care, you never did. You’ve got me, you know I’ll never stop loving you and neither will Enzo or Kat. Hell Kol met you like 5 seconds and he adored you. Wherever you go people love you Care. Don’t let assholes extinguish your light.”

_“Stephen is not an asshole.”_

“He was okay with what your father did, which makes him an asshole in my eyes.”

_“Thanks, Bonnie.”_

“That’s what best friends are for,” Bonnie answered.

“Can you get the phone back to Enzo? I think I might have freaked him out a bit.”

“You did, But that’s not hard to do.” Bonnie joked as she handed the phone back to Enzo.

“You’re feeling better Gorgeous?” Enzo asked.

“Not really, but I will be, sorry for scaring you,” Caroline said.

“It’s no problem darling. How are things going over there?”

“Slow but mostly steady.” Caroline said, “I’m going to take a nap, I’ll talk to you later?”

“Of course Caroline,” Enzo said, hanging up the phone.

* * *

 Klaus made his way back to the room, he shared with Caroline. There was some kind of convention in town so the motel one had one room available. 

One room with a single bed, that was definitely going to be interesting. He tried to find out a bit more about the next clue, but it hadn’t been the same without Caroline’s running commentary. So he came back to the room after making a few stops along the way.

 He opened the door softly, just in case she was asleep. He closed the door behind him softly and headed towards the kitchenette. He put the contents of the bag in a mug which he put in the microwave.

“You’re back,” Caroline said rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. After she’d gotten off the phone with Bonnie and Enzo she tried to sleep. She succeeded for like 10 minutes.

“The lead I had didn’t pan out, figured I’d call it a day,” Klaus said bluffing just a bit.

“What’s in the bag?” Caroline asked, noticing he was carrying a paper bag.

“You’ll see,” Klaus said as he got the mug out of the microwave and walked over to where Caroline had sat up on the bed. He sat down next to her and handed her the mug and the bag.

“Onion rings?” She said as she opened the bag and smelled the comforting aroma of one of her favorite comfort foods.

“You wouldn’t shut up about them earlier and with all the commotion I figured you hadn’t been able to eat any,” Klaus said with a small smile as he scratched at his ear. Caroline smiled a small smile, then took a sip of the mug, it was warm blood.

“B Positive,” Caroline said softly.

“I didn’t know if you had eaten at all today, so I got you one of both,” Klaus said speaking softly and nervously biting his bottom lip.

“You didn’t have to do this,” Caroline muttered.

“I have two sisters, I know the best way to deal with bad days is comfort food. I’m guessing vampires aren’t that much different from other kinds of women in that regard,” Klaus said.

“For once Mikaelson you’re in the right,” Caroline remarked with a smile, Klaus hadn’t realized how much he liked seeing her smile until now.

“Well, it was bound to happen eventually,” Klaus said going along with her joke.

“B+ is my favorite actually,” Caroline mentioned.

“You sound surprised, I do actually pay attention you know,” Klaus responded cheekily.

“Enzo and Katherine have this on-going argument about who can find the rarest blood-type and they’re always trying to steal each other’s kills because of it. I’m just happy with a cup of B+,” Caroline remarked as she took a sip of her blood.

 They sat there in silence for a few minutes as Caroline ate her food and drank her cup of blood. At one point she dipped an onion ring into the blood, causing Klaus to just stare at her incredulously.

“What?” Caroline asked when she caught his stare.

“That looks positively disgusting love,” Klaus commented.

“You gave me the blood, you can turn around if it offends you,” Caroline said.

“It’s not the blood, I don’t mind you drinking blood, but are you really dipping the onion rings in your mug?” Klaus asked.

“It’s good! I like the flavor combination,” Caroline exclaimed, trying not to think about the fact where he'd said he didn't mind that she drank blood.

“That’s like saying you’d put chocolate on your onion rings,” Klaus said.

“Now there’s an idea,” Caroline said and let out a laugh at the expression on his face, “how do you eat onion rings, don’t tell me you add some weird condiment like mayo.”

“I can’t stand mayo honestly, normally I eat them with ketchup or just by themselves,” Klaus explained.

“That’s boring Mikaelson,” Caroline told him.

“Well, that’s how it is, Forbes,” Klaus retorted.

“So I guess I should explain what happened today, right?” Caroline said once she had finished her onion rings and her blood.

“You don’t have to explain anything you don’t want to. You don’t owe me anything Caroline,” Klaus said honestly.

“I know, but, I want to?” Caroline said nervously.

“Then I’m all ears,” Klaus said

“When I was 14 my father left my mother for another man. That man was Stephen, he’s who we ran into. He’s my stepfather or was my stepfather. Basically, he’s my father’s widow. We used to have a really good relationship, he was there when neither of my parents could be there. After my father left, he didn’t come back very often, I’d see him once every six months if I was lucky. My mother dealt with the pain by becoming even more of a workaholic. All I had was Bonnie and Stephen. It didn’t matter what event I had or how frivolous, it might have been, he was always there. Even when my father couldn’t make an appearance, especially when my father couldn’t make an appearance.” Caroline said, trying to build up the courage for the next part of her story.

“I’m here Caroline,” Klaus said, putting his hand over hers and giving it a slight squeeze and so Caroline told him about her last year as a human. She told him the basics about her relationship with Damon and how that had led to her becoming a vampire. She talked about how Enzo had been a huge help in learning how to get control and about her mother and Bonnie’s reactions to her change.

“Once I finally had a good enough control I went back home. My mother could barely look at me in the eye, among other things, so I started regretting my decision to come home. I had decided I was just going to say hi to an old friend of mine, then I’d grab my things and move out of town. Just like if I was moving to college, I’d compel admission somewhere and just try to regroup there.” Caroline said, then let go of his hand and got off the bed. She walked over to the fridge and grabbed the six-pack, putting it on the table and just leaned on it while looking at the floor.

“I’m guessing that wasn’t the case?” Klaus asked softly and so she shook her head no.

“It turns out that my hometown’s founding families are all part of an anti-vampire council. Someone gave them a tip that I was now among the undead, it was probably one of the Salvatores. My old friend Matt, the one I wanted to say hi to, by the way, helped Mayor Carol Lockwood kidnap me while I was coming out of the grill.” Caroline said making her hand into a fist. Carol Lockwood had never liked her so that had come as no surprise, but Matt? Matt Donovan, her sweet first boyfriend betraying her like that? It was something Caroline had yet to forgive or forget. Caroline grabbed one of the beers and took a big gulp.

“I woke up in a torture chamber created by my very own ancestors. It came with a vervain ventilation system, a reinforced steel containment chair that I was basically chained to, and a window. That damn fucking window,” Caroline muttered, taking another gulp of her beer, “and you know who was in charge of this little excursion of mine?”

“Who?” Klaus said, although he feared he knew the answer already, after all, no one knows what parents could be capable as much as him.

“My dad, William Forbes himself, he couldn’t show up to my high school graduation because he had important business, but this he definitely showed up to,” Caroline muttered angrily.

“What did he do?” Klaus said, getting up and standing next to her.

“He would whip out a blood bag and hold it in front of my face, knowing what my reaction would be. I hadn’t fed in a while so you can expect how well that went. He kept saying that the blood controlled me so he would pull on a chain that opened the goddamn aforementioned window. He had of course taken my ring, it was right next to me, but I couldn’t get to it. You know what sunlight does to vampires right?”

“It burns them,” Klaus responded as Caroline nodded then continued.

“It burned like a bitch, it’s what I expect being burned at the stake would probably feel like. I kept crying out in pain and begging for it to stop. Then he’d pull on the chain and the window would close and my body would heal slightly. Then he’d show me the blood bag and everything would start all over again. Rinse and Repeat. He was trying to condition me like some sort of Pavlovian dog. Wanted me to associate blood and pain. Jokes on him because I had always associated blood and pain.” Caroline said sardonically.

“I don’t know how long I was there, definitely more than two days though. I kept thinking this is how I’m going to die, I’m going to either dessicate or I’ll burn alive. But then one day in the middle of my dad’s visit to my chair I heard a gunshot. My mom was there with Enzo and Tyler and she threatened him. Enzo had come to town because he hadn’t heard from me, he and my mother realized I was missing. Tyler got involved because he overheard Matt and Carol talking about it. Matt hadn’t been able to lie to his best friend when asked about it so Tyler had gone to my mother. Enzo put my ring back on while Tyler helped him take the shackles off. Mom told Dad that if he came near me again, she’d shoot him and she wouldn’t regret it.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you,” Klaus said softly.

“It was an eye-opening experience, to say the least,” Caroline said, “a few months later he came back to town and apologized or well sort of. Then he got attacked by a rogue vampire and instead of becoming a vampire he chose to die. I got my closure with him, but that last part still burns a bit. Maybe I’m an idiot for feeling too much.”

“I think it says more about you that you feel these things, darling,” Klaus said.

“You think?”

“I think you’re beautiful, strong and full of light. If someone wants to change you they don’t truly know you because you’re quite incredible the way you are,” Klaus remarked as Caroline just stared at him before giving him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m guessing hearing my sob story is not how you thought this trip was going to go,” Caroline muttered.

“Nothing has gone the way I thought it would since I met you Caroline, but I find I quite like it that way,” Klaus admitted.

“Really?” Caroline asked and he nodded.

“You know I was kicked out of my coven right?” Klaus asked as he grabbed his own beer out of the six pack.

“Bonnie told me you didn’t have a coven but I didn’t know the why of it all,”

“I was cast out of my Coven when I was still young, 17 actually, when word spread that I was the product of an affair. It was what Mikael finally needed to kick me out. You see he’d never liked me, maybe deep down he had always suspected that I wasn’t his.” Klaus stated taking a sip out of his beer.

“When I was 8 I got my first kick to the guts because I spilled rosemary on the carpet. Then Rebekah broke a vase one time. He never went after the girls, but I didn’t want to take that chance so I took the blame. I took the blame for the girls, and I took the blame for my younger brothers. Most of the time it was just that he was angry and needed a release. But I figured it was better me than them,” Klaus muttered as Caroline put her hand over his just as he had done earlier that night.

“Other than Freya and Kol I was the family member to show the most magical aptitude and he wasn’t a fan of that. My mother stopped teaching me magic and no one else would dare teach me so I taught myself. So technically even before I was officially kicked out of the coven I still wasn’t a part of it.” Klaus explained, he didn’t know why he was telling all of this but it all seemed to be flowing out of him.

“Sorry, but your mom sounds like a bitch,” Caroline remarked, like her mom hadn’t been the best, but Caroline knew that Liz Forbes still loved her, it seemed that Klaus hadn’t even gotten that.

“Yeah, she kind of was,” Klaus admitted.

“You deserved better from your parents too, Klaus. I know that any parent would be lucky to have a child like you,” Caroline told him.

“That sounded strangely like a compliment Caroline,” Klaus pointed out.

“Don’t let it go to your head Mikaelson.” Caroline retorted finishing up her beer and putting the rest of the six-pack in the fridge. She went into the bathroom and came back with her PJs on, it was a green shirt with black shorts and they both had martini glasses on them.

“Kat got them for me last Christmas,” Caroline said when she saw him staring.

“They’re adorable,” Klaus said.

“Shut up.” She said with a smile as she got inside the bed.

“I’m going to take the couch, ” Klaus said

“The bed is large enough for both of us, after all, we’re both adults. It’s been a long, exhausting day and we both need the sleep.”

“If you’re certain,” Klaus said

“I’m certain,” Caroline told him, he nodded and went into the bathroom to change. He decided it would probably be best not to rock the boat so he put on a pair of sweatpants to sleep in. He did take his shirt off, something Caroline definitely noticed, but tried to pretend she hadn’t. He got in the bed next to her and suddenly the weight of the day fell on him, he hadn’t realized how tired he was.

“Goodnight Caroline,” He said softly.

“Goodnight Klaus,” Caroline responded as she turned off the lamp next to her and went to sleep.      

* * *

The sunlight hit the blinds and woke Klaus up from his sleep. He looked at the clock next to the bed, 11 am. He didn’t remember the last time he’d slept so well, or for that long. The other different thing is that he didn’t usually wake up with a blonde vampire in his arms. For some reason, they had gravitated towards each other during the night. Now he had woken up tangled with her and it was stirring all kinds of emotions. Emotions that he didn’t need nor want. He couldn’t afford to get feelings, he didn’t do feelings.

The thing he’d told Caroline months ago was still true, love was a weakness. Klaus couldn’t afford to be weak. He couldn’t afford to let anything stand in the way of getting the moonstone, not even the maddening and charming blonde vampire. All he’d wanted for his entire life was to belong to the coven. To be a _true_  part of it and he was so close. As long as he delivered the moonstone he’d be hailed as a hero. He couldn’t let anything or anyone stand in the way of that. No matter how gorgeous she looked while she slept.

Caroline shifted in her sleep pulling him out of his thoughts. Her head was now completely resting on his chest. All other thoughts left his head at that moment. Everything else could wait, for now, he wanted to stay in this moment forever. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep, the rest of the day could wait.  

* * *

She was going to die, she was most definitely going to die. Great going Caroline Forbes this is your most brilliant plan yet. Only she could think that going out on a full moon is a good idea. She was a vampire, the full moon was the one night a month where she wasn’t safe in the dark.

She’d gotten a lead about an hour ago but she hadn’t wanted to wake Klaus. He looked peaceful as he slept and he hadn’t been sleeping much. They had been going around in circles for the past few days and yet they had found nothing. She hadn’t wanted to wake him in case it turned out to be a false alarm. 

She thought she was going to check out the lead and be back at their hotel room in no time. The convention had ended so they had been able to get a room at a slightly nicer hotel. Now she was stuck in a graveyard with nowhere to go.

Caroline had locked herself in the shed the moment she’d heard the wolves arrive, but knew it wouldn’t be long before they broke down the door. All it would take is one small bite and she’d be in trouble. A werewolf bite was poisonous to vampires. It created hallucinations and immeasurable pain which would lead to death. There was no known cure.

She just had to hold on for the rest of the night, the sun would come up eventually, right? Maybe she would make it. Of course, as soon as she thought that she heard sounds at the door. Someone, or rather something, was trying to break down the door. She grabbed a hold of her necklace and just prayed.

She had never been a religious person, even less so after turning, but someone had to be out there to listen right? The door opened and one of the werewolves was right in front of her. This was it, she knew it, she closed her eyes, but the impact never came. When she opened her eyes, she noticed the werewolf that was coming after being attacked by another wolf.

It seemed that out of the two werewolves that had gone after her, one was dead and the other was fighting the wolf. The wolf that saved her was a gorgeous white wolf with hints of gold. For a moment he turned to look at her and all she saw was his stunning blue eyes. They were eyes that told a story, eyes she knew well.

“Klaus,” Caroline muttered in shock. They locked eyes for a second and then she saw how the other wolf attacked him. She heard a whimper coming from Klaus and her heart sunk to the ground. The other werewolf was gaining the upper hand, she had to do something fast. She looked through the shack and there it was a .45 caliber. She had never been happier her mother was a sheriff than she was at this moment.

She fired all the bullets left in the clip and the werewolf fell to the floor. She ran towards it and made sure it was actually dead. Thankfully, her aim had not failed her and the werewolf was dead. She turned to Klaus’ wolf form and she could smell the blood, it was a lot of blood. She needed to get them out of here before more werewolves arrived.

Thanking whatever deity there was for her vampire strength she carried the wolf to the car. Klaus had left the keys in the ignition and so she just placed him in the back seat, put her blanket over him and drove towards the hotel. On the way she used the Bluetooth feature to call Freya and told her all she could. Freya promised to be there as soon as she could and told her she’d send a friend of hers to help in the meantime.

Sure enough, as soon as she parked the car there was a man waiting for her. She’d seen him before talking to Klaus so she could only assume, this was the guy Freya was talking about. But she had to be sure, Klaus’ life depended on it.

“Caroline Forbes?”  

"Who is asking?” Caroline said positioning herself in front of where Klaus was lying down.

“Vincent Griffith, I went to school with Freya, she called me to help you out,” Vincent said.

“How do I know you are who you say you are?” Caroline said and subtly lifted her jacket to show the gun that was holstered in her jeans. Sure, it had no more bullets left, but he didn’t know that.

“Klaus came to me the other day not to ask about the moonstone but where could find the best onion rings in town,” Vincent said, he’d found the request strange but he still gave him a suggestion. Caroline let her guard down so he figured that was the right answer.

“He’s in the back seat, he hasn’t shifted back and I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to give him my blood in case,” Caroline trailed off, but Vincent could basically hear the rest. In case he didn’t make it. She was worried about what would happen if Klaus died with her blood in his system.

“You’ve got a suite right?” Vincent asked.

“Yes, it’s on the first floor, we wanted something a bit separated from the rest of the hotel,” Caroline explained.

“Okay, go to the room and put a towel over the bed,” Vincent said and Caroline ran to do that. A few moments later Vincent walked inside and put the wolf in the bed.

“Is there anything you can do?” Caroline asked, putting the do not disturb sign and closing the door.

“Is that sage burning?” Vincent asked.

“I figured it was better that no one outside the room hears whatever happens here, just in case,” Caroline explained.

“Smart plan, to answer your earlier question I can’t do anything until he shifts. I can’t see the extent of the damage if he’s a wolf,” Vincent explained.

“Isn’t shifting really painful? Wouldn’t that make things worse?” Caroline asked.

“In this case, no,” Vincent said, realizing Caroline thought Klaus was a werewolf.

“Then what do we do?” Caroline asked.

“He needs to shift by himself so any ideas?” Vincent said as Caroline nodded. 

He looked as Caroline walked up to the wolf in question and put her hand on his neck and pet him until he opened his eyes again.

“Hey Klaus, it’s Caroline. We’re safe, we’re back at the hotel. Freya is on the way and Vincent is here to help. But he can’t help you if you don’t shift back.’’ Caroline said as the wolf let out a whine, “I know it’s painful but you have to try okay?”

Vincent was surprised when Caroline’s words actually seemed to do the trick. Klaus shifted and in a matter of moments the wolf was gone and there was a naked man underneath the blanket.

“You did so well.” Caroline said, giving him a kiss on the top of his head and headed towards Vincent, “I’ll be right back okay?”

Vincent just nodded and went to check on Klaus’ injuries. It didn’t look good, it looked like he lost a lot of blood and he was unconscious again as the shift had taken a bit of his energy away. Vincent grabbed a pair of clothes from the closet and used magic to put them on, Klaus. The man deserved a bit of decency after all.

Suddenly Caroline was back with some random man. Vincent saw how she compelled him to go to the hospital and get blood and supplies without being noticed. She’d also threatened, what she’d do if he did get noticed. Normally Vincent hated vampires for this very reason, but he saw something in her eye as the man left.

“Klaus needs blood and we’ve established I can’t give him any. My blood bags are no use either because they’re B+ and Klaus is A-. We can’t wait until Freya gets here he needs the blood now.”

“I’m O-, the universal donor,” Vincent said.

“I know,” Caroline stated.

“You do?”

“I’m a vampire I can tell what kind of blood type someone is, they all smell different, I might not have a handle on all of my abilities the way I wish I did but I can do that much,” Caroline said.

“You could have asked me instead of compelling some bloke,” Vincent pointed out.

“Witches normally frown upon a vampire asking for their blood, no matter the scenario. With the amount of blood Klaus needs right now, well you’d probably end up light-headed and I kind of need you and your help right now,” Caroline argued as she got back to cleaning Klaus’ wounds. She was cleaning his torso when she noticed something wet against her hand. Fresh blood, the wound in his chest had opened up.

“Vincent!” Caroline exclaimed as Vincent came running.

“What’s wrong?”

“He’s still bleeding, maybe the wound opened up when he shifted.  **Shit!**  We need to cauterize the wound. Otherwise, he’s going to bleed out,” Caroline said

“Do you have a lighter?” Vincent asked.

“You’re a witch for fuck’s sake. There’s a knife in my bag we can use that.” Caroline said and so Vincent grabbed towels and the knife. He heated up the knife and handed it to Caroline.

“You cauterize it and I’ll hold him steady, this is going to hurt,” Vincent told her and she nodded. He counted to three and then Caroline cauterized the wound. The pain woke Klaus up and he thrashed around as Vincent tried to hold him steady.

“Hey, it’s fine you’re fine, we had to close that wound or you’d bleed out,” she said softly, she grabbed one of the wet towels and started cleaning the dried blood. At least one crisis was averted.

 Vincent wanted to say something but chose not to. Caroline was grateful, she wasn’t sure she was in a state to answer any questions. Thankfully, there was a knock on the door. Vincent opened the door to the compelled stranger who brought the blood and some of the things necessary for a transfusion.

“Thank you, Paul, you did a good job,” Caroline said then pulled out a 50 dollar bill out of her bag and handed it to him.

“Here you go, you won’t remember anything about this. You don’t know me, Vincent or Klaus, you’ve never been to this hotel room and you definitely did not get us anything. You found the money in between your books,” Caroline said and saw as his pupils dilated and knew the compulsion had worked. The man walked out as Vincent got everything ready. He was surprised to find not only blood but also serum.

“You asked for serum as well?” Vincent asked

“Freya is still going to take about 2 hours to get here if we’re lucky. Loss of blood can lead to dehydration, and we don’t know how his body will react to the transfusion. There’s still the possibility of the wounds getting infected and Klaus getting a fever. Either way, it seemed like the right idea,” Caroline explained.

“It is, I was just surprised I guess, that was good thinking,” Vincent said.

“Oh, thank you,” She said softly as they got to work and connected Klaus to the serum and got the transfusion going.

“You’re good at this,” Vincent pointed out as they worked.

“I’ve had practice, my last human years weren’t exactly full of roses,” Caroline said and Vincent caught her meaning. She spent a lot of time around open wounds. Vincent figured the metaphorical ones still bled from time to time.

“Now it’s the waiting game,” Vincent said, and it was true in many ways. They had to wait and see how the transfusion would go, and wait for Freya to get here.

“Sorry about screaming at you earlier, that wasn’t fair of me,” Caroline said.

“It’s truly no problem I understand everything is tense right now,” Vincent said, he hadn’t even thought much about it.

“We were slightly busy earlier, but I’m Caroline Forbes, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Caroline said holding her hand out.

“It’s a pleasure, Miss Forbes, I am Vincent Griffith,” Vincent said shaking her hand. As he did, he got a sense of how she was and how she had been, his respect for her grew.

“So what exactly are your powers? If you don’t mind me asking?” Caroline asked.

“To be honest, I don’t know the full extent of them. I stopped practicing for a while and just recently picked it up again. I’m good at things that require action, telekinesis as well as getting a feel for a person when I see their aura. I’m good at brewing potions and can recite powerful spells. The only ones I have trouble with are healing spells, but I don’t think anyone is as good as Freya with those.”

“My friend Bonnie told me that once, it’s how I knew to call Freya,” Caroline mentioned.

“What exactly happened?” Vincent asked softly.

“I was an idiot, I shouldn’t have gone out on a full moon but I had a lead and I needed to check it out. I didn’t tell him because he was finally sleeping and I figured I’d be back before he even realized it. While I was investigating a werewolf caught my scent. I hid in a shed from it and its companion. They knocked down the door and I saw my life flash before my eyes, again.” Caroline said looking down and playing with her necklace.

“Then he showed up and at first I didn’t know it was him, I didn’t know he was a werewolf as well as a witch. I wasn’t aware that was possible. But then he looked at me and those eyes, I’d recognize those eyes everywhere. He managed to kill one of them, but the other attacked him and was gaining on him. I found the gun and emptied the clip on it. Then I made sure the werewolf was dead before grabbing Klaus and hightailing out of there,” Caroline explained.

“That’s when you called Freya and she called me.”

“Yeah. Do you think he’ll be okay? I couldn’t, I can’t,” Caroline trailed off and Vincent wanted nothing more than to tell her everything would be okay. The truth was that he wasn’t sure about anything. Everything would depend on how Klaus passed the next few hours.

“You should take a shower and try to get some sleep.”

“I’m not sure, I,” Caroline said, looking at Klaus on the bed, Vincent put his hand on her shoulder.

“I will let you know if anything changes and I’ll wake you when Freya arrives, you can’t help him if you run yourself to the ground,” Vincent said and Caroline realized he was right. Her clothes were practically covered in his blood - speaking of blood she should probably get some.

She went to the mini-fridge, grabbed a B+, prepared it and put it in the microwave. She took one of her fresh pairs of sweatpants and took them to the bathroom as the microwave chimed. She nodded at Vincent and left towards the bathroom with her mug. He might be okay with her, but she doubted he’d want to see her drinking blood.

* * *

 Vincent was watching over Klaus sleeping form, he had woken up for a bit earlier and had asked about Caroline. Vincent told him she was okay, that she was sleeping and Klaus passed out again. Thankfully Caroline had not woken up in the commotion, Vincent knows she would have gotten worried. He heard a knock on the door and went to open it, knowing it could only be Freya. And sure enough, there she was.

“I was going to open it with magic, but I assumed you put a protective spell on it,” Freya said in lieu of a greeting.

“Your assumptions would be correct,” Vincent said.

“How is he?” Freya asked as she came inside the door.

“Look for yourself,” Vincent said as they walked to the bed where Klaus was sleeping.

“Has he woken up at all?” Freya wondered.

“A few times, but not for more than 5 minutes,” Vincent pointed out.

“Where’s Caroline?” Freya asked and Vincent pointed at the couch where Caroline was sleeping covered in a blanket.

“She didn’t want to sleep in the bed so as to not bother your brother, convincing her to go to sleep was hard enough so I caved on letting her sleep on the couch,” Vincent explained.

“Catch me up on everything,” Freya said as she checked on her brother’s wounds and current state. Vincent caught her up on everything that had happened, what Caroline had told him about how it all went down, the way the two of them handled everything afterward. How she’d asked for the supplies for the transfusion and the serum, not to mention how she’d given the compelled guy money for his efforts.  How he’d finally gotten her to go to sleep.

“Let’s wait for the last blood bag to empty and then we’ll use magic,” Freya said.

“It should  be about 15 minutes,” Vincent said.

“Sounds good, let’s go outside,” Freya said as they walked outside the hotel room.

“I’m guessing you want to talk about Caroline?” Vincent asked as they walked a little bit away from the hotel room villa.

“Am I that obvious?” Freya asked.

“No, but I’ve known you for a long time Freya, you’re not the type to beat around the bush,” Vincent told his friend.

“Okay, what do you think about her Vin?” Freya wondered. It was always good to get an outsider point-of-view, especially in things that concerned her family.

“She’s a damn good vampire and an even better person from what I can see. She compelled a guy and then gave him a $50 after he did what she asked. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like that. ”

“She definitely sounds like quite the character from the stories I’ve heard,” Freya said

"She threatened me with a gun? Have ever seen a vampire threaten you with a gun?" Vincent said with a smirk.

"She threatened Nik with pepper spray the first time they met," Freya said, that had been one of the parts of the story that amused her the most. 

“She’s got a darkness inside of her, an ugly past, I suspect she was abused but that’s not my place to say. Yet she handles the darkness like a glove," Vincent admitted. 

“Is that what you saw when you touched her?” Freya asked, speaking about Vincent’s ability to know certain things by touching them. Vin had always explained that it wasn’t so much he knew things for certain, but rather got a feeling about it.

“I saw darkness and I saw a light in equal measure, once you’ve spent more time with her you’ll see why I say it’s a perfectly accurate description,” Vincent said.

“You think she’s going to stick around?” Freya asked surprised.

“I’m almost certain Caroline is in love with him and he might be with her as well, a fact I don’t think either is aware of at the moment.” Vincent explained, “unless your brother majorly screws it up, and he still might, she’s going to be around for quite a while I predict.”

“Actual prediction or just another feeling?” Freya asked.

“Feeling, it’s always the feelings Freya, also you know that prediction is more Ivy’s style,” Vincent said talking about his girlfriend.

“How is Ivy?”

“She’s doing very well, thank you for asking, she’s about to finish her masters so we might be moving from this place soon,” Vincent said.

“Well, you know there’s always a home for you in New York City,”

“In the Mikaelson Coven? I’m not a fan of your father,” Vincent admitted.

“No one is, but I meant with us, we could basically be our coven by now,” Freya said with a laugh.

“Did you take in more strays Freya?”

“Kol’s girlfriend is a Bennett witch and in the particularly small world we live in, Bonnie has been best friends since childhood with Miss Caroline Forbes herself,” Freya told him.

“I thought I sensed magic around her, I had attributed it mostly to your brother, but it might be residual magic from lifelong friendship with a Bennet.” Vincent said then chuckled, “Fate is a curious thing.”

“Yeah, now my sister is also getting into a relationship with another of Caroline’s best friends, a vampire called Enzo. Not to mention Elijah seems to kind of be dating the 4th member of the group, the gorgeous Katherine Pierce.” Freya said.

“Someone has a little crush?” Vincent asked with a smirk.

“I just think she could probably do better than Elijah. You know how he is.” Freya said.

“Don’t I ever,” Vincent muttered darkly, he was definitely not a big fan of one of the oldest Mikaelsons.

“So yeah, basically our weird little family now is a mix of witches and three vampires.”

“A fact that I assume you’re happy about.”

“Sometimes I am,” Freya said then her timer went off, it was time to go back to the room. They headed back to the room and Vincent woke up Caroline as he promised he would.

“Caroline, this is Freya Mikaelson, Freya this is Caroline Forbes,” Vincent said doing the introductions.

“It’s a pleasure, sorry about my current state of, well, everything,” Caroline said. She'd always thought that when she'd finally meet Freya Mikaelson it would be under better circumstances, not wearing sweatpants in a hotel room while Klaus was injured.

“Trust me, I get it.” Freya said, “I have to say great to see you and not just talk to you.”

“Likewise.”

“Although I should warn you I feel I might know you already from Bonnie and Enzo’s stories,” Freya said.

“I don’t even want to know what they’ve been saying.”

“Mostly good stuff,” Freya said.

“The blood transfusion is done so no time like the present,” Vincent said and Freya nodded. Knowing it was time to get to work. Her brother depended on her after all, she wasn’t going to fail him this time.

Freya was a bit of an expert in magical healing. Whenever Kol was feeling brave he’d call her a witch doctor, but Freya supposed the name did have some merit. She did many things that doctors did only in a different manner. Freya mostly focused on interior injuries, things that wouldn’t be seen without an x-ray machine.

They had a close call once or twice when Klaus’ body didn’t seem to be reacting well to the magic or the medicine. It could have been the blood. Caroline was terrified, watching all of this happen, but not being able to do anything about it. So she spent her time holding on to one of Klaus’ hands, it was comforting to both herself and Klaus.

Then after 4 grueling hours, Freya was done. Klaus would still have a scar from where he was bitten, and another from where it had to be cauterized. But he was alive and he would stay alive. At least for the time being, considering he didn’t do anything extremely reckless in the near future, he’d be safe. That was all that mattered. The three of them took turns keeping watch. All they had to do now is wait till he woke up.

* * *

 Klaus had woken up two hours ago but most of that time he’d spent it with his sister. Meanwhile, Vincent had taken Caroline out to breakfast at a pastry shop nearby. Caroline really liked Vincent, if nothing else came out of this trip at least she knew she had a new lifelong friend in Vincent Griffith. Talking with him had been eye-opening and refreshing. 

He had a way of looking at things that Caroline would not have thought of. Caroline had told him about Damon and that relationship while Vincent had talked about his ex-wife. Then they moved into more recent relationships like how he was happy with a witch named Ivy and her complicated whatever it is with Klaus. He’d made her realize things she hadn’t. And had given her good advice that she knew she should follow, but it was easier said than done.

Caroline put on her big girl pants and knocked on the door to the bedroom. She heard Klaus telling her to come in and she walked in to see Freya sitting on the bed next to her brother.

“Hey Freya, Vincent is waiting outside to say goodbye,” Caroline said.

“I’ll go see him, he’s not the most patient of witches,” Freya said with a laugh.

“Oh, I know,” Caroline agreed.

“Nik, think about what I said,” Freya said.

“I’ll try,” Klaus said.

“That’s all I ask,” Freya asked as she went out the door closing it behind her.

“Hi,” Caroline said softly.

“Hey,” Klaus responded and patted the bed for her to go sit down, and so she did.

“I’m sorry I went out there I shouldn’t. It was stupid, I’m stupid.”

“I don’t know who told you that Forbes, but you’re the farthest thing from stupid,” Klaus said standing up a little bit in bed.

“I wanted to prove something, to prove that I am good enough and that I can do things without anyone having to save me.”

“Everyone of us needs saving at one point or another.”

“I know that. It just seems like in my case it’ slightly more than usual, guess I’m just a bit useless as a vampire,” Caroline said resorting to self-deprecating humor.

“Hey, you’re the farthest thing from a useless vampire, you’re brilliant Caroline. Even before getting to know you I knew that. Damon Salvatore and his idiot brother are just that idiots.”

“Who said anything about the Salvadouches?” Caroline said.

“I think I’ve known you well enough by now that I know that your experiences with them, especially with Damon, give voice to the doubts in your head. He’s the reason you doubt whether or not you’re good enough” Klaus mentioned and then turned to look at her straight in the eye, “I know because for me those doubts take the shape of Mikael and at times my mother.”

“It’s not just him, no one other than my friends thinks I’m capable of anything. My mom came around, but there was a while when she couldn’t look me in the eye. My father chose to die and Stephen thinks I’m a monster, my first boyfriend gave me up to be tortured,” Caroline said.

“They’re idiots the lot of them, but you have something they don’t have.”

“What’s that?”

“Courage and the ability to adapt to anything life throws at you. You have the ability to still smile even your life has been a shitstorm,’ Klaus remarked.

“Yeah, that’s one way to put it,” Caroline said with a laugh.

“And if they don’t think you can handle it, then tell them to fuck off. Better yet, use it against them, show them what underestimating  **you**  does, hell you showed me that first night in the store,” Klaus said and at her look, he continued, “Once I mentioned the Moonstone you retorted to the blonde persona and pretended not to know about vampires. I knew you were lying about the vampire part, but you might have duped me with the movie,”

“So you admit it! Took you long enough!” Caroline said smirking. 

“You did and pretty phenomenally because I didn’t even realize it until Freya spelled it out for me,”

“That was pretty smooth of me.”

“Who cares if the idiots don’t think you’ve got what it takes. I know you do and we all know my opinion is all that matters,” Klaus said with his usual smirk.

“How do I know you’re not just saying it because I’m feeling sad?”

“We’ve been spending every day together for the last four months, you know I don’t suffer fools. I also don’t say things I don’t mean, and you think I’d accept that you got one over me just for kicks?”

“You do have a spectacular ego Mikaelson.”

“So do you, love,” Klaus said, “In regards to what happened, you know there’s a difference between doing something because you can and actually being smart about it right? You don’t need to put yourself in danger to prove something. And you definitely don’t need to prove anything to anyone, not parents, exes, friends, not even me,” Klaus explained and there was a voice in the back of his head that said he should probably take his own advice. Of course, he wasn’t going to that.

“That almost sounded insightful,” Caroline said with a smirk.

“Almost dying will do that to you,” Klaus said with a slight smile.

“About that, can you try not to do that again?” Caroline said softly.

“Did I scare you, Forbes?” Klaus said jokingly.

“Just a little bit,” Caroline said, gesturing with her fingers.

“Well, I am alive because of you.”

“I think Freya did the heavy lifting,” Caroline said, pushing the praise off.

“Freya wasn’t the one that shot a werewolf with a gun. You’re the one that called Freya to come here and got Vincent to help out. Freya wasn’t the one that threatened Vincent with that same gun just in case he wasn’t who he said he was,” Klaus said sitting up

“Be careful if you pull your stitches your sister might kill me,” Caroline said, but he ignored her and continued talking,

“Freya wasn’t the one to make sure I got the blood and fluids I needed or the one that realized she needed to cauterize wounds before they bled out. Not taking merit off of my sister’s actions, of course, because they were incredible. I’ve already thanked her for saving my life, and yes, I’ve thanked Vincent for helping too.” Klaus said as it looked like Caroline was going to mention it and then he grabbed her hand in his, “If you hadn’t done what you did, I would be dead. You saved my life. You brought me back Caroline. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome Klaus.”   

“You know I’ve had this for most of my life you know? It had a weird meaning for me, sometimes it’s luck, sometimes it’s a reminder of a time that is gone, I want you to have it,” Klaus said, taking his wolf tooth necklace off his neck and placing it on hers, “It looks beautiful.”

“Klaus, I can’t,” Caroline asked, extremely touched at the gesture, as she touched the silver tooth with her hand.

“Yes you can, you saved my life, Caroline.”

“Technically, you saved mine first,” Caroline said softly.

“Then keep it as a sign that I’ll always come for you, and I will always protect you.”

“Promise?” Caroline asked.

“I promise,” Klaus said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. They stayed that way for a few minutes.

“So you’re a werewolf,” Caroline said changing the subject.

“I’m not a werewolf,” Klaus said.

“I saw you and then watched you shift back, there was no denying you were a wolf.”

“No, what I meant is that I am a wolf I’m just not a werewolf,” Klaus explained.

“Is there a difference?” Caroline asked curiously, this was the first she’d heard of it.

“I can change at will, I’m not beholden by the full moon. I don’t have to break every bone in my body to shift. I didn’t have to kill anyone to trigger my transformation, and my bite isn’t poisonous to vampires”

“Why do I have a suspicion you actually tested out that last one?” Caroline asked with a slight smile.”

“Perhaps you are getting to know me,”  Klaus said getting closer to her.

“Perhaps I am,” Caroline said.

It wasn’t clear which of them it was that made the first move, or if it was both of them. Suddenly his lips were on hers and they were kissing. Their bodies leaning close to each other as they both had their eyes closed. Klaus grabbed her body to pull her closer and Caroline was pretty much straddling him. All earlier comments about pulling stitches gone from her head.

He put her hands in her hair as he kissed her neck and she let out an inaudible moan. She pushed them forward so they were no longer sitting upright in the bed. Klaus’ eyes widened in surprise, but she just smirked in return. Caroline then captured his lips once again and he eagerly responded. They were so immersed in each other that they didn’t notice the door open.

“Hey Nik, I’m just OH MY GOD,” Freya screamed, jumping back at the sight of her brother making out with Caroline. One never wants to be present to a sibling making out with someone, and Freya has now officially walked in on all of them. At least they have their clothes on, unlike Rebekah and Enzo last weekend. Why had she thought living with her sister would be a good idea? 

Of course, Freya’s surprised scream caused the couple to pull apart. Caroline is forever thankful for vampire reflexes otherwise she would have ungracefully fallen off the bed. Caroline tried to straighten her clothes while Klaus just looked annoyed at the interruption. Caroline thought she heard Freya mutter something like guess I owe Kol $20 dollars under her breath, but she couldn’t be sure - and she wasn’t about to ask.

“Hey Freya,” Caroline said, trying to sound nonchalant and failing, deeply failing.

“Did you need anything sister?” Klaus asked annoyed.

“Drop the attitude, see if I save your ass next time,” Freya said, but everyone in the room knew she was bluffing.

“Be nice!” Caroline exclaimed smacking him on the head lightly.

“Be careful I’m wounded!” Klaus exclaimed.

“You seemed perfectly fine a minute ago,” Freya pointed out and Caroline blushed, “I did come here for a reason.”

“Which is?” Klaus asked.

“I came to say goodbye, I’ll leave you two to your quest,” Freya said with a smirk as her brother rolled his eyes but got up to hug her.

“Thank you Freya,” Klaus whispered in her ear.

“You’re welcome little brother anytime,” Freya said, hugging back, “actually no, not anytime, please don’t make a habit of almost dying,”

“I’ll try my best,” Klaus said with a smirk.

“Pfft, I’m sure you will,” Freya said then went to hug Caroline.

“It was great meeting you Freya, sorry it was under these circumstances,” Caroline said hugging back.

“It was lovely to finally meet you in person,” Freya said then whispered in her ear so Klaus wouldn’t hear, “Take care of him, he cares even if he won’t admit it.”   

Freya walked over to the table by the door and grabbed the car keys, “I’m taking your car back to New York.”

“Why are you taking my car? We kind of need my car,” Klaus argued.

“It needs a deep clean, blood doesn’t really go with leather,” Freya said, “don’t worry, I’m leaving you with the jet.”

“You have a jet?” Caroline asked.

“Technically Kol has a jet, when his inheritance came in, it was the first thing he bought because apparently commercial flights are a hassle and he doesn’t want to arrive 3 hours before,” Klaus explained.

“He almost lost it in a poker game once,” Freya reminisced.

“How?” Caroline asked incredulously.

“It’s Kol, we’ve stopped asking how a long time ago,” Klaus said with a laugh.

“Rebekah had to telepathically help him out so he didn’t lose the jet,” Freya told Caroline.

“She has never let him forget it,” Klaus said.

“And she never will,” Freya said, “Well, I have to get on the road because I have a 19-hour trip ahead of me,”

“Have a safe trip Freya,” Caroline said as Freya waved and left the hotel room. Klaus and Caroline were once again alone, and they had just made out,  **fuck**.

* * *

 Caroline and Klaus were walking among the forest following the directions that Vincent had given Caroline. They were, of course, arguing about whether or not this was the right place. They had spent quite a while in New Orleans already and Klaus was eager to find something, anything. Otherwise, they would keep going in circles.

“Vincent swore to me that the clue referred to this place right here,” Caroline said

“How is it I asked him and he said he didn’t know?”

“Maybe he didn’t completely trust you?”

“And yet he trusts you?” Klaus said with a smirk as Caroline nodded.

“We shared an experience we’re bonded now.”

“That is.... actually that makes perfect sense,” Klaus said with a laugh.

“I have a gift,” Caroline joked beaming with that beautiful smile of hers, the one that always made Klaus himself smile.

“No one is disputing that love,” Klaus said as they came upon the entrance to the cave.

“Wow, that’s a lot of magic, even I’m feeling it,” Caroline said.

“Maybe you’re becoming more aware of your other senses,” Klaus said proudly but then walked forward and stopped.

“I told you so,” Caroline said.

“I still think my point stands. But yeah- that’s a lot of concentrated magical energy, do you mind if I go first in case there’s hexes or protections.”

“Be my guest, if anyone is going to turn into a frog it’s you,” Caroline joked.

“No one is turning into a frog Caroline, it’s practically impossible to turn a human into an amphibian.”

“You said practically impossible which means there’s like still a percentage of possibility no matter how small,” Caroline pointed out as she followed him down the cave until they came to a complete stop.

“Give me a few minutes to disarm the hexes will you,” Klaus whispered as he got to work.

“Fine, but hurry this place gives me the creeps,” Caroline whispered back, “at least now I get it.”

“Get what?” Klaus wondered as he untangled the hexes with his magic.

“Why Vincent said he wouldn’t step foot in here if you paid him.”

“It’s definitely formidable,” Klaus said then turned to her, “pass me the bag.”

Caroline passed him the bag and he got out two candles which he placed on the two sides of the door, then recited an incantation and all the lights went out, including Caroline’s flashlight.  Caroline tried not to show how scary it all was but she knew Klaus probably felt her fear either way. Klaus muttered yet another incantation and the flashlight and torchlights came back as the door opened.

“Is it safe?” Caroline asked.

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“Right,” Caroline muttered and Klaus turned around and looked at her in the eye. It had been the closest they had been since their kiss earlier that day. The kiss that they had yet to mention.

“I’m here with you okay? Nothing is going to happen to you, I won’t let it,” Klaus said as he reached out and grabbed a hold of her hand. She put her head on his shoulder for a second and then smiled at him. Klaus smiled back as they walked forward.

The cave seemed like every other cave, with the exception of the magical buzzing.

Caroline was holding on to Klaus with both hands as they went deeper inside and explored the cave.

“Any ideas?” Klaus wondered.

“The clue was the absence of light will guide you, so as much as I truly loathe the idea and seriously,  _ **I hate it,**_ we should turn the lights off,” Caroline muttered as Klaus nodded.

“Hold on to me Forbes, we both know you like doing that,” Klaus said.

“Oh shut up,” Caroline replied but she appreciated the effort. Klaus repeated one of his earlier incantations and the lights went out completely. It was pitch dark, Caroline was sure that if her heart could still beat it would be pounding like crazy. Her hands were shaking and her knees felt like rubber but then Klaus fingers intertwined with hers and she knew things would be okay.

She kind of hated how she’d come to rely on him but she’d would examine those feelings later, now was definitely not the time. Sure enough, as they were walking they noticed a path that seemed lighter than the others. It was a sort of luminescent light that could only be seen when there was no other light source. 

There was a box on top of an altar, that must be it. Klaus checked for hexes and there didn’t seem to be any. Either way he still very carefully grabbed the box and put it inside their bag. That’s when the lights came on and the rumbling sound started.

“That does not sound good,” Caroline said stating the obvious.

“You think?”

“Grab on to the bag as tightly as you can,” Caroline told him and so Klaus put the bag over his head and held on to it.

“Why?” Klaus asked.

“We’re gonna make a run for it,” Caroline said as the rumbling sound kept getting nearer and stronger, “Do you trust me?”

“I do,” Klaus said and was surprised to find out,  _he actually meant it_. She smiled at his her one-thousand-watt smile, grabbed his hand and then sped them out of there. 

She didn’t stop until they were a block from the hotel. As they stopped, Klaus coughed up a storm.

“Are you okay?” Caroline asked.

“So that’s what vampire speed feels like,” Klaus remarked.

“I figured it was a better alternative than staying there while the cave flooded or came down or whatever was going on,” Caroline said, “whatever it was, it was probably not good and we might need to get out of town before people realize what went down.”

“I’m fine Caroline don’t worry,” Klaus said as he regained his breath.

“Let’s get back to the hotel and open the box. There better be something interesting there, because I did not just risk my life going to that uber scary cave for nothing.” Caroline ranted and Klaus laughed. As they walked their hands brushed at each other and Caroline entwined their fingers. So they walked back to the hotel holding hands. As they got back Klaus opened the door and put the box on the table.

“What are you waiting for! Open it!” Caroline exclaimed.

“Patience is not your strong-suit love,” Klaus said with a smirk.

“I’ve never been patient, even as a human and you know everything is magnified,” Caroline said.

“Oh I know,” He said with a wink as she laughed.

Klaus opened the box and there it was; the final clue. The one that would tell them where the moonstone was, they had done it.

“Is that?” Caroline asked.

“The final clue,” Klaus said nodding.

“You will find me in Trimountaine where the flowers bloom,” Caroline said reading the clue.

“This might be the easiest clue yet, at least for me,” Klaus said.

“Trimountaine?” Caroline asked.

“It was the name settlers gave to what is now called Boston.”

“How did I not know that?” Caroline asked.

“Well some witches, yours truly included, have had a keen interesting in the history of Massachusetts.”

“Because of Salem and the witch trials?” Caroline asked.

“Because of Salem and the witch trials, among other things. But I have even better news,” Klaus said.

“What is it?”

“Trimountaine might no longer be the name of the city but there’s still a street that takes after the city’s original name. It’s Tremont street,” Klaus explained.

“So we just technically have to find a garden or flower shop somewhere with flowers in Tremont street and we’ll find our stone,” Caroline said.

“We’ll find our stone,” Klaus agreed.

“We did it! I can’t believe we did it!” Caroline said jumping up and down excitedly.

“You better believe it, tomorrow that stone will be in our possession,” Klaus said as she jumped on top of him, they stared at each other as Klaus closed the distance between their lips. She crossed her legs behind his back he pushed them against the wall as he kissed her neck. Caroline moaned as he kissed a sensitive spot on her neck, she could practically feel him smirking as he took her shirt off leaving her only in a bra and her jeans. 

They stared at each other for a minute as he reached down to kiss her breasts. He kissed his way from her breasts to her lips once again. She looked him as their eyes smiled at each other. Caroline untangled her legs from behind him and gracefully put them back on the ground. She did that while her hands were still behind his neck.

Then it was her turn to smirk as she took his henley off and pushed them on the bed. She was laying on top of him kissing his neck while her hands held his hands above his head. He let out a groan and Caroline kissed him again. She knew her breath probably had a slight aftertaste of blood, but his breath was both hot and sweet at the same time. Probably because of the chocolates he was always eating.  

Klaus then decided to turn them around and proceeded to take off her jeans. Kissing his way slowly from her breasts to her panties. Then he looked up from where he was kissing her body as he basically ripped her panties off.

“You’re gonna pay for those,” Caroline said with a laugh.

“I’ll buy you dozens more,” Klaus replied as he smirked at her and Caroline had a feeling she was in for a very pleasurable night.

 After they had woken up and had sex again, Klaus and Caroline had packed up everything from their New Orleans hotel. They had a quick breakfast and then they headed to where the Mikaelson Jet was stored. Caroline had spent most of the flight looking up possibilities of flower shops and venues where the final place could be. Klaus spent most of the flight trying to convince her to join the mile high club with him. She eventually caved, but only after finding out about the Berkeley Community Garden.

The Berkeley Community Garden was located on 500 Tremont Street and seemed the most likely place for the Moonstone to be. After all the clue did say it was among the flowers. They had gotten a room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel and decided to change and freshen up before heading to look for the moonstone.

Klaus had gotten ready in about five minutes time, and now he was waiting in the lobby for Caroline to arrive. Considering what he knew about Caroline he knew he’d probably we waiting for a while. Then he’d heard the voice of the person he hated most in this world.

“Well well well what do we have here,” Mikael said.

“What do you want?” Klaus said.

“Boston is lovely this time of year isn’t it?”

“Since you apparently didn’t hear me, what do you want, I’m busy.”

“Yes waiting for that blonde vampire friend of yours,” Mikael said and got a gleam in his eye when he saw Klaus stiff. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh Niklaus, you’re still a terrible liar as ever, you really think I wouldn’t find out about your adventures with Miss Caroline Forbes?”

“What’s it to you?” Klaus said, trying to act calm and collected.

“I make it my business to know everything related to the Moonstone, especially if it concerns the likes of you.”

“The Moonstone? That’s just a rumor.”

“Maybe I should go ask that vampire friend of yours about it?”

“Don’t you dare come near her,” Klaus said, getting in his stepfather’s face.

“Oh, interesting, you actually have feelings for this girl. Do you really think she actually cares for you as much as you care for her?” Mikael said, “It’s quite possible she’s just using you to get to the Moonstone, ever thought of that?”

“I don’t have to listen to you,” Klaus said.

“You really think anyone could love you boy? You’re unlovable Niklaus, not even your own mother cared what about you, Freya feels sorry for you and your brother gave you up without much prodding.”

“Elijah told you,” Klaus said as everything started to click in his head.

“How did you think I found out you were after the Moonstone? I do love having a loyal son. You wouldn’t know loyalty like that, would you? After all, everyone throws you away,” Mikael said, knowing he was hitting a nerve. “The girl will betray you once you have the stone, I’m almost certain of it, it’s the story of your life after all isn’t it?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Klaus said, but as much as he hated to admit it, Mikael had planted the seed. He wanted to believe that Caroline wasn’t like that, but you could never be too sure.

“I came to warn that the offer I made you won’t stay open for long, you have 48 hours to bring me Moonstone or the deal is closed for good, no more second chances,” Mikael said and with that, he walked away.

 

Leaving a storm behind in his wake.

* * *

 Caroline wasn’t sure what was going on with Klaus. He had been strangely quiet ever since she came down from their hotel room to find him waiting. At first, she’d thought she’d kept him waiting too long. But her watch told her she had only taken around 15 to 20 minutes to get ready, which was fast for her. She tried to make conversation on the way to the garden, but he didn’t seem to be in the mood. She assumed he was just nervous about everything. All she wanted was to make his worries go away, but she had a few of her own to contend with.

Once in the garden, they headed towards what Caroline had found in her research. There was a place in the garden that was hidden underneath some stairs. Caroline knew that if the moonstone was anywhere it would be there. But there was something she had to do first.

“Before we go any further, let’s wait a moment,” Caroline said.

“What’s wrong?” Klaus asked.

“Here,” Caroline said, taking her necklace off, which had been on her neck next to his wolf tooth, and placing it in his hand.

“Why are you giving me this?” Klaus asked confused.

“It’s a Celtic knot,” Caroline explained, blushing a bit, leaving out the word love as to not freak him out, “It means unity, strength, and protection, the gemstone is a black tourmaline, my birthstone, it’s supposed to ward off evil forces and protect you from negative thoughts.”

“Older witches used to use them as talismans,” Klaus said.

“Yeah, that’s what Bonnie said,” Caroline said, looking down, “I don’t know what we’re going to face in there but I want you to have it. It’s for luck.”

Caroline then gave him a soft kiss before walking ahead to their destination. Klaus placed the necklace around his neck and that’s when it hit him. He loved her, he was  _ **in love**_  with Caroline Forbes. Mikael’s warning rang in his head and he knew the man would stop at nothing to get the stone. Caroline’s face came into his thoughts. He knew what he had to do, he had to hurt her to protect her, even if it killed him.

* * *

 Everything had been going so well, they had gotten the moonstone in a small shed underneath some stairs in the garden. Klaus had said there was a glamour spell on the door. Only those who had completed all the tasks could pass through the door and get their hands on the stone. They had passed through the tasks, and so they passed through the door with little issue. There it was on a slight altar.

Klaus had grabbed it and placed it in his bag. Then they had made their way out of the shed and back up the stairs to the garden. Caroline had seen everything so beautiful at that moment and it had crashed around her in the next.

“So I’ve heard there’s a place near Harvard that makes really good burgers, you want to head there to celebrate?” Caroline asked.

“I’m afraid this is where we part ways darling,” Klaus said.

“What?”

“I’ve got the moonstone and that’s all I needed after all,” Klaus said.

“You’re lying to me.”

“I’m not lying Caroline, I needed you to get the moonstone and now that it’s in my possession, I really don’t need anything from you,” Klaus said bluffing his way through the conversation. Thankfully, he’d done a spell masking his heartbeat’s movements so she couldn’t tell how much he was lying through his teeth.

“I don’t believe it, this isn’t you.”

“You barely even know me just who I wanted you to see, after all, I couldn’t have you hating me now could I? It would be counterproductive to my goals.”

“You’re scared,” Caroline said.

“I’m not scared of anything.”

“Yes, you are, you’re trying to push me away so you won’t get hurt is that it?” Caroline said.

“I think you’re giving yourself too much credit darling, don’t tell me you hadn’t considered this as a possibility, I’m almost certain you were planning to betray me as well.”

“That was before,” Caroline said, trailing off, before the trip, before the wolves, before the kiss, before the way he’d made love to her last night, had it only just been last night?

“Before what? We fucked Caroline that was it,” Klaus said telling the biggest lie he’d said so far and then he’d felt the hand across his cheek and he knew that he deserved it. He saw her eyes fill with unshed tears, but she wouldn’t let them fall, “I take this moonstone back to the coven I’ll be welcomed with open arms.”

“Bullshit and you know it, Mikael wants you to be miserable, you really think he’s going to let you back in the coven? He never wanted you there in the first place! You really think you’re going to come out on top in this situation?” Caroline exclaimed with her jaw clenched. Klaus wanted to say that no, there was probably no positive side to any of this but he stayed quiet.

“This is the way things are,” Klaus stated.

“No, it’s not, Maybe I am foolish as you once said. But that's better than your take on things. Because- you Klaus? You’re a fucking coward, this isn’t about me or even about us. It’s about you and your fear of rejection. Your father didn’t love you so you assume no one else will.”

“Tread carefully Caroline.”

“I think it’s far too late for that. You wanted to be alone with your bloody moonstone, congratulations, you’ve got it, hope you two are very happy together, but don’t come crying to me when Mikael screws you over again.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t,” He said as she sped off. At that moment the mask fell off and a single tear fell from Klaus’ eye.

He did what had to be done, right?

* * *

Caroline had arrived back at her apartment last night and hadn’t talked to anyone. She had spent the next morning and most a lot of the afternoon in her room. Katherine and Enzo had tried reaching out, but Caroline didn’t seem to want to talk. So they had called in reinforcements in the form of Bonnie. Well, Bonnie and Kol because apparently, he’d been with her when she’d gotten the call. They had gotten to the apartment in the middle of one of Caroline’s rants. 

She’d been ranting about random stuff ever since she’d come out of the bedroom about an hour ago. Katherine predicted she had reached the rage stage, which mean soon she’d go from rage to sadness again. But at least Bonnie was here, she was much better at emotions than Katherine was.

“You know what they’re all stupid. I owe the Salvadouches nothing. I don’t have to prove a single thing to them. And I don’t have to prove anything to anyone else, especially not to any witch. Because witches are stupid, no offense Bonnie. “ Caroline said ranting away, putting emphasis on the word witch, but Bonnie just nodded and turned to Katherine.

“What’s going on?”

“She’s ranting because she has feelings she is trying to deny, mainly regarding a certain witch,” Katherine responded.

“No, I don’t because he is stupid and witches are stupid,” Caroline replied.

“Hey, thanks,” Kol said.

“Don’t start Kol your family is the worst of it. Except for Freya, she’s really nice. But everyone else is stupid, especially your brother. Your brother and his stupid powers and his stupid gorgeous wolf. He’s the most stupid of them all!” Caroline exclaimed leaving the room.

“Does she realize she used the word stupid like 8 times in the last minute?” Kol asked softly.

“Yeah, it’s better just to let her get it out of her system we call it the rage phase,” Enzo replied.

“I prefer the rage to the numbness,” Katherine said.

“Ain’t that the truth.”

“Now she’s either going to fall apart or she’s going to keep pretending nothing is wrong and you know what that means,” Enzo said.

“Cleaning,” Katherine muttered.

“Cleaning?” Kol asked, making sure he heard them right.

“Just watch out for anything you don’t want to be cleaned, there’s a possibility that any minute now she is going to start obsessively cleaning,” Katherine said, filling up her glass of wine.

“Not the cleaning,” Bonnie muttered as Katherine handed her a glass of wine.

“You’re going to need that,” Katherine said.

“Remember the Stella mishap? She cleaned for a week and she didn’t even care about that girl,” Enzo complained.

“I should have killed that bitch,” Katherine said.

“You can’t kill everyone Caroline dates.” Bonnie reminded her.

“Hey, I would also kill your exes and Enzo’s! I have layers!” Katherine said.

“That’s.... Nice Kat,” Bonnie said, oddly touched.

“Yeah, well, what are we going to do about the current situation? Because I’m not sitting through her obsessive cleaning, yoga routines and yelling at romantic comedies,” Katherine said.

“She’s going to watch the Notebook so many times,” Bonnie remarked.

“There’s only so many times I can watch the Notebook,” Katherine pointed out.

“Does anyone know what actually went down?” Enzo asked, looking at Kol who put his hands up in surrender.

“All I know is that Freya told me Nik came back a few hours after Caroline showed up here, she also has no idea what happened,” Kol told them.

“If I was a betting woman I’d say they had sex, then some shit went down and they ended up fighting,” Katherine said.

“Has Caroline said anything?” Enzo asked.

“No, but I know Caroline, I’m guessing she freaked out because she actually has feelings and either she freaked out or she tried to talk about those feelings, then he freaked out, men always freak out about feelings,” Katherine explained.

“Nik definitely subscribes to the idea that he needs to push people away so that makes sense,” Kol said.

“This is a mess,” Bonnie muttered.

* * *

 Caroline was sitting in her bathtub drinking Katherine’s witch-brewed wine. If there was ever a time to get drunk it was now. She felt so used and discarded, maybe that was her penance. She couldn’t believe she actually thought he felt something for her. She was so sure he did, with all of his nice words and the way he looked at her.

Why had he put his life in danger if he truly felt nothing for her? Was it only because of the help she could bring him? Was it because he still needed her to get the stone? And now that he has the moonstone she doesn’t matter anymore? Caroline knows what disinterest looks like. Damon showed her in spades, so did Matt to an extent, and every other bad relationship she’s had.

The way Klaus had looked at her was different. It was like he couldn’t figure her out. He opened up to her and he made her feel safe. That’s the part she hates most. She had felt safe. She hadn’t felt truly safe since… She actually couldn’t remember?  _ **How pathetic was that?**_ It was before becoming a vampire,  _definitely before Damon_. But she couldn’t remember the last time she felt as protected as she had when she was in Klaus’ arms.

“Beautiful, Strong, full of light.. Fucking Bastard!” Caroline screamed as Bonnie and Katherine came into the bathroom.

“Hey, Carebear how are you?” Bonnie asked as both Katherine and Caroline stared at her.

“She’s drinking the witch wine so I’m guessing not well Bon,” Kat replied.

“I was talking more about specific feelings Kat,” Bonnie responded.

“Is wanting to punch a stupid witch in the face a feeling? Because I’m feeling it,” Caroline said.

“Scoot over,” Bonnie said and Caroline complied so that both Kat and Bonnie fit in the bathtub with Caroline in the middle.

“If you’re going to talk about feelings I need some of that,” Katherine said, grabbing the wine and taking a chug.

“I’m the world’s biggest idiot,” Caroline muttered.

“Trust me, darling, you’re not,” Bonnie said.

“I was feeling all brave at the start of this you know? I was going to use him and then betray him. I'd get the fucking stone and prove to everyone that I am good enough,” Caroline said, grabbing the bottle from Kat and drinking, “instead I went and developed feelings for the asshole.”

“And yes, I know I can’t be mad if he did literally what I was planning to do. But the thing is I knew that he was going to betray me at first. We didn’t know each other and we’re different species so of course, we didn’t trust each other. I just along the way it changed for me and I was almost certain it had changed for him too. I thought that the events of the full moon had changed everything but again, I was wrong.” Caroline ranted.

“Opening yourself up to love is never wrong Care,” Bonnie said.

“I fell for a man who thinks loving is a weakness; I knew that, hell I argued the point with him and yet I still fell,” Caroline said drinking more.

“The heart wants what it wants, sometimes it’s a dick in a suit who asks you to meet his family only for him to ghost you afterward,” Katherine said stealing the bottle back.

“Elijah ghosted you?” Bonnie asked.

“I thought the evening had gone well, you saw it, his siblings loved me, and we slept together that night,” Katherine said.

“Don’t you sleep together every night you’re together?” Caroline asked.

“No, I mean like actual sleep, we didn’t have sex, we just slept, and the morning after was nice and then a week later nothing,” Katherine muttered.

“Maybe try talking to him?” Bonnie asked.

“He won’t answer my calls or texts and I’m not the type of girl to keep calling in case he’ll pick up,” Katherine remarked.

“Well, if he shows up again ask him what the fuck, if not you know what a good revenge would be?” Caroline said.

“What?” Katherine asked.

“Sleeping with his sister,” Caroline stated.

“Rebekah? I can’t do that to Enzo it goes against the friend code,” Katherine said.

“Not Rebekah, Freya. I think you two could hit it off, she’s great and really sweet and powerful. Nothing like her good for nothing dickhead brother who makes girls fall in love with him only to break their hearts.”

“There we go again,” Bonnie asked as Kat passed Caroline the bottle.

“You know how foolish I was? I actually thought I’d found someone who actually understood me. Someone who liked me for me. Someone that embraced the vampire side along with my seemingly human side. He got me onion rings with a warm mug of B+ when I was sad about Stephen. I mean, who does that if they don’t care? We opened up to each other. I told him the full details about Damon and he didn’t turn me away. _He made me feel safe._ ” Caroline said, tears once again fell from her eyes.

Katherine and Bonnie looked at each other above Caroline’s head. She had never described a romantic partner as safe before. The girls knew Caroline felt safe with them and with Enzo but that was pretty much where the list ended. For her to describe feeling safe with Klaus? Their friend was much deeper than either of them had considered.

“You know what one of the worst parts is?” Caroline asked.

“What?” Bonnie wondered.

“He is really good at sex. I swear earth-shattering orgasms. I deserved that. I thought I had that? I thought, hey here’s a guy that I relate to on a lot of levels, we get along pretty well, most of the bickering is harmless. But we also aren’t afraid to call out each other’s shit. He’s too gorgeous for words and he’s good at sex too! Sure, he has a shitload of issues, but who doesn’t? I know I personally can’t throw stones in that department. And he likes me. He likes Caroline Elizabeth Forbes, the blonde vampire who is a neurotic, control freak, perfectionist. I thought we were on the same page.”

“Oh sweetie,” Kat said, not even able to say I told you so or rejoice in the fact that her best friend finally got some good sex.

“I should have guessed it, he didn’t want to talk about it. We didn’t make plans. I was being spontaneous for once. He wanted to focus on the last leg of the journey and I understood that because I’m also goal oriented. I didn’t even want the stupid stone anymore, you know?” Caroline muttered.

“You didn’t?” Bonnie asked.

“I never wanted the stone for the stone. I just wanted to prove that I could do it. Ironically enough Klaus helped me see that I didn’t need to prove anything to anyone. As long as I was happy with myself that should be enough.”

“We’ve been telling you that for years, what made it click now?” Katherine wondered.

“It wasn’t just his words. I went on the journey, I was a big part of deciphering those clues. I killed a werewolf with a .45 caliber gun. I threatened a witch with that same gun. Then befriended that same witch. I helped Freya and Vincent save Klaus and didn’t have a single blood-related issue. I was a badass so many times during this trip. Like neither of the Salvadicks could have accomplished that.”

“Witches really hate the brothers,” Bonnie pointed out while taking a drink from the bottle.

“Stefan would have not been able to save Klaus and he wouldn’t have wanted to. Damon would have killed someone at the first sign of trouble. Not to mention he’d never have gotten the first clue.” Caroline said.

“That’s true, he’s always been the dumb brother. Not that either of them was ever particularly smart,” Katherine said

“At the end, I didn’t need a Moonstone to show me I had the power inside me all along. I’m a fucking queen,” Caroline said, taking a chug and turned around and saw Kat was crying and that Bonnie seemed to be crying too.

“Are you crying?” Bonnie asked.

“You’re crying too!” Katherine exclaimed.

“Aw, you guys!” Caroline said as tears continued falling from her face, but now for a very different reason.

“I hate emotions, but I’m so proud of you, my little vampire has grown into her fangs,” Katherine said as Caroline pulled both of her friends into a hug.

“Enough crying! I’m getting my answers!” Caroline said as she got out of the bathtub and cleaned the smudged makeup off her face.

“What are you doing?” Bonnie asked.

“I’m getting my answers one way or another, but first I am going to change into something really hot. Because I am one gorgeous blonde vampire,” Caroline said walking into her walk-in closet.

“DAMN RIGHT YOU ARE! YOU’RE A GODDESS CARE!” Katherine exclaimed.   

“THANK YOU, KAT!” Caroline screamed back and a few minutes later came back with dark skinny jeans, black knee-high boots, a hot pink shirt that really accentuated her boobs and made her look fabulous. She was still wearing his wolf tooth necklace around her neck and a long black coat to finish the look. She had reapplied her makeup and her princess curls were mostly intact.

“You look incredible, if he turns you away, he is a fool,” Katherine said.

“Damn right he is,” Caroline said, taking one last chug of the witch-wine.

“Do you even know where he lives?” asked Bonnie, forever being the voice of reason.

“No, but his brother is in our living room so I’m going to go ask him,” Caroline said went towards their living room.

“Don’t kill him I actually like this one!” Bonnie exclaimed as she and Kat followed after their friend.

Caroline found Enzo and Kol playing cards on the couch, Enzo let out a whistle as he saw how his friend was dressed.

“Feeling better Gorgeous?” Enzo asked.

“I will once your new friend tells me his brother’s address,” Caroline said.

“Here you go,” Kol said writing down on a piece of paper and handing it to her, “knock some sense into him.”

“I intend to. Where are the car keys?” Caroline asked.

“You drunk most of a bottle of witch-wine you might not be that drunk but you’re still drunk. So no car, either one of us takes you or you vamp-run there.” Enzo said, leaving the offer open in case she wanted someone to go with her.

“I need to do this alone, but thank you,” Caroline said, giving her friend a kiss on the cheek.

“Good luck,” Bonnie said.

“Punch him in the balls if he acts like a dick!” Katherine exclaimed. Caroline smiled at them and took off, taking only her phone with her.

“Both options are valid,” Kol said with a smirk, “Now what is this witch-wine and why does it sound like something I’d like to try?”

* * *

Klaus kept staring at his reflection in the beer bottle. He didn’t know how long he’d been sitting here in this bloody bathroom. His sisters’ bathroom no less. He had the goddamned moonstone, all that work had paid off, but the cost was too high. He could keep telling himself that he was trying to protect her, but he wasn't sure what the truth was. Did he want to protect her or was he trying to protect himself? All he could see was Caroline’s face in his head. She looked so strong, he could see the tears burning in her eyes, but she still would not let them fall. She wouldn’t give him the right to see her fall apart, not again.

He didn’t deserve that right. He had never deserved any of Caroline’s time if they were being honest. His brain kept torturing him with images of her smile, her laugh, the way she’d mocked him while eating onion rings. He would see how she looked after they kissed that first time and the way she had practically glowed with pleasure during their night together.

The way she’d teased him and how she’d smiled as he gave her his wolf tooth. That wolf tooth had been with him since he was a child and yet it felt natural to give it to her. It had made him happy to see her wear it. Later, when she had given him her own necklace, it felt like the greatest of treasures. She had just placed it in his hand with a smile and had given him a light kiss. So strange that such a simple action could have such meaning.  

It was for luck. That’s what she said as she placed it in his hand, right before they went inside the place their final clue pointed to. It had been a beautiful garden. He remembered thinking how he wished the circumstances were different so that he could take her to these kinds of places all the time.

Was he truly willing to give that up for a place in a coven that didn’t want him to begin with? His musings were cut off by his sisters coming into the room.

“Come to berate me further?” Klaus said, speaking of when he’d arrived and Rebekah had read him the riot act. Apparently, she’d been in the trio’s apartment when Caroline arrived, and the blonde witch had a lot of words for who was normally her favorite brother. 

“I think you’re doing a pretty good job of that yourself,” Freya said, looking at the two empty beer bottles next to him.

“Then why are you here.”

“Nik this is our apartment, technically we can be here if we want to be,” Rebekah said, but the man in question just let out an inaudible noise.

Rebekah looked at her normally composed brother. He looked like a mess. He looked wrecked, a sorrowful crushed mess. She saw him reach for the necklace around his neck, she didn’t think he was even conscious that he was doing it. What surprised Rebekah even more was that it wasn't his wolf necklace. She hadn't earlier but his wolf necklace wasn't on his neck. The one he was holding was Celtic Love Knot. She would bet anything that it was Caroline's. 

And that’s when it clicked for Rebekah. Her brother was in love. Her brother that had always called out her necessity for love and companionship was heartbroken. How the tables had turned.

She hated that she couldn’t even rub it in his face. Not when he looked like this.  **Fucking Nik.**

“Why did you do it?” Rebekah asked.

“What?” Klaus replied.

“You’re in love with her, deeply in love.”

“I’m not -“ Klaus tried to argue, but he knew it was no use.

“I know love when I see it Nik, a bit of an expert on the subject remember? And heartbreak? I know that even more deeply,” Rebekah stated sadly and for once, Klaus didn’t argue so she tried again.

“You wouldn’t look this gutted if you weren’t deeply in love with her. So why did you do it?” Rebekah asked again and Freya looked on curious as to what her brother would say.

“I was offered a deal, the moonstone for a place in the coven,” Klaus said.

“Bullshit,” Freya said.

“The deal is legit, ask your dear father.”

“I believe the deal is legit, and I believe that you took it. I understand why it would be appealing to you, but that’s not all there is,” Freya said.

“What else could there be, other than I’m a selfish dick,” Klaus said.

“You’d like for everyone to believe that, wouldn’t you?” Freya asked, sitting down next to him as Klaus looked at her, “if everyone believes you’re just a selfish dick no one will try to break through your barriers. And then you won’t get hurt if anything happens.”

“You’ve called me a selfish dick many times,” Klaus pointed out.

“And most of the time I stand by it. I love you Nik, but you are selfish at times. But this was not one of them. This was you pushing away someone you loved because you could see a future there and that terrified you.” Freya said, nailing the hammer in the head.

“I’m not scared of anything,” Klaus said with a bluff.

“Want to try that again, more believable this time,” Rebekah remarked.

“Being back in the coven was all I wanted growing up, I just wanted a place to belong,” Klaus finally admitted.

“Niklaus Mikaelson look around you, will you,” Freya said as his eyebrow quirked.

“You’ve never needed the Coven and as for somewhere, you belong? You have that. You belong with us. You, me, Rebekah, Bonnie and Kol we’re a family.”

“Not to mention the three vampires we sort of adopted into the family,” Rebekah pointed out.

“Yes! The five of us are now the eight of us, ten if you count Vincent and Ivy. Rebekah is sort of dating a guy she actually likes and who seems to like her. We’re seeing Kol and Bonnie more often. Kat is also a great addition. Caroline loves you, she truly does,” Freya told him.

“Not after this,” Klaus stated.

“You’re going to have to grovel a bit or a lot, but she’ll forgive you. You didn’t see how worried she was when you were hurt. You almost died on us and I could tell she wanted to fall apart and yet she remained steadfast. She loves you and you love her. Don’t be an idiot. You know she makes you happy, these last four months have been the happiest I’ve heard you.”

“I second that. I could practically hear your smile every time we talked,” Rebekah said, “don’t push her away because you think she’s going to walk away or because you think she’ll make you weak. Our emotions don’t make us weak. They are what gives us the power and the strength to go through life and all its disasters.”

“That sounds like something Caroline would say,” Klaus said, thinking of how she had said something quite similar to that once.

“I like her already,” Rebekah joked.

“You would,” Klaus said and yes, he knows that when they meet Rebekah and Caroline will probably be unstoppable. 

“So what do you say Nik, this is your crossroads, which road will you choose?” Freya asked and then her brother got up from the bathroom floor.

“Freya do you mind giving me a ride? There’s something I need to do,” Klaus said with a smirk.

“With pleasure Nik,” Freya said as Klaus helped her get up, she put her arm around him as they walked out of the bathroom.

“I’m going too I want to see Enzo! Plus, I really want to meet this girl,” Rebekah said following after them.

“I just had the scariest thought,” Freya said.

“What is it?”

“Caroline, Katherine, Bonnie and Rebekah hanging out,” Freya said, ignoring a  _hey!_  from the aforementioned sister.

“That will truly be a sight to see,” Klaus said with a smile. 

* * *

 Caroline made her way into Klaus apartment in around 10 minutes. She stopped a few times because she didn’t think she was ready to face him, but then realized it was now or never. Also, because she had drunk a lot of wine, witch-wine and vamp speed combined were never a good idea.

Klaus apartment was in a nice part of town and not too far from where she actually lived. If she wasn’t wrong, and she usually wasn’t, Freya’s shop was also near. He lived in a penthouse above his bar. He talked about his bar a few times over the course of the four months they traveled together.

It truly was now or never, come on Caroline  _you can do this_. You faced stronger challenges than this, you are Miss Mystic Falls, you’ve got this. Caroline followed the instructions on Kol’s paper and got the spare key that leads into the bar. The bar was closed for renovations so there was no one here. That’s good, that way they won’t have an audience.

 She went up the stairs and found herself in front of his front door. She knocked, but there was no answer and so she let herself in. There were no hexes on the door or anything along the lines so she was able to enter without issue. Looking back on this later she’ll realize it should have set off alarms in her head. Klaus wasn’t the most trusting of individuals, there’s no way he’d leave his home unprotected. But at the moment she was just thinking of what she was going to say when she saw him. 

“Klaus? Klaus are you here?” Caroline called out and then she felt a pain in her neck and suddenly everything was black.

* * *

 They had arrived at the vampires’ residence and Klaus didn’t know what to do or what to say. 

“Are you ready?” Freya asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Klaus said as he got out of the car and knocked on the door to the apartment. Of course, the person that answered was probably the last person Klaus should see, he was pretty sure if Enzo was a witch Klaus would be in a lot of pain right now with the way the vampire was staring at him.

“Klaus, what are you doing here?” Bonnie asked.

“Hey Bennett, is Caroline around?” Klaus said.

“She’s not here,” Katherine said with her arms crossed, glaring holes in Klaus’ head.

“Please I need to see her, I made a mistake,” Klaus pleaded.

“Nik, she really isn’t here, she left around an hour ago to go to your apartment to see you, you didn’t see her?” Kol asked.

“I haven’t gone to my apartment.”

“Yeah, he’s been crashing at our place,” Rebekah said.

“You’re saying she went to my apartment?” Klaus said worriedly.

“That’s what Kol said do you have hearing problems in addition to your everlasting stupidity?” Katherine asked and then Klaus took off towards the car again.

“Klaus you can’t drive, you drank a lot,” Freya said following after him.

“Am I the only one that has a bad feeling about this? Caroline would have called if she didn’t find him,” Enzo said.

“I guess we’re all going to the dick’s apartment, then?” Katherine said.

“I’ll drive, none of you look in a state to drive,” Rebekah muttered as Enzo handed her the keys.

“Witch-wine,” Kol said as if that explained everything.

They went to Klaus apartment in two cars. Freya, Klaus, Bonnie and Kol in one car and Rebekah, Enzo and Katherine in the other. Once they got to the apartment Freya hadn’t even turned off the car before Klaus practically sprinted getting out of it.

 

As he got to the door his worst feelings were confirmed.

“What’s going on Nik, I’ve never seen you like this,” Freya asked.

“The wards are down, all of them are down,” Klaus said.

“You put the wards up?” Kol asked.

“I didn’t know how long I was going to be gone so of course, I put them up, and also so you wouldn’t eat all my food,” Klaus said, Kol was going to say something but a look from his twin told him it was not the time.

“Was it Caroline?” Katherine asked.

“Your friend might be incredible or whatever, but there’s no way she’d be able to break through Nik’s wards, I can’t do that and I’m pretty fucking amazing,” Rebekah explained.

“No, this was done two or three days ago,” Klaussaid.

“Maybe Care is inside?” Enzo asked, knowing it was a foolish question.

Klaus opened the door and just like he expected, Caroline wasn’t there. Klaus let out an anguished yell and every light bulb started flickering.

“Caroline was here,” Bonnie said, she could feel her friend’s scent lingering in the foyer. Katherine thought saw something and when she looked over it was Caroline’s phone, it had been lying under the bookcase.

“Yeah, and here’s her phone.”

“I played right into his hands, right into his fucking hands,” Klaus muttered.

“Into whose hands?” Enzo asked, worried about his friend, but Klaus wasn’t listening, he muttered an incantation and then an image appeared, it looked like security footage of the apartment.

“Nik would be as paranoid as to have security cameras installed in his own apartment,” Rebekah said.

“So that’s how you knew I came into the apartment!” Kol exclaimed.

“Do you have cameras everywhere?” Bonnie wondered.

“Only in the common areas, there are no cameras in the bathrooms or in the bedrooms,” Klaus said as he magically rewound the video until Caroline appeared on the screen. They saw how she came into the apartment, how she called out to Klaus and how someone knocked her out. Then her captor appeared on screen clearly unaware that the cameras were watching.

“That fucker I knew I recognized the scent,” Katherine exclaimed.

"Is that?" Klaus asked having a gut feeling about who it was.

"Damon fucking Salvatore," Katherine said.

"They must be working together," Klaus said.

"Who is working together, who took Caroline?" Freya asked.

"I saw Mikael in Boston, he got into my head and he mentioned Caroline," Klaus said.

"So you pushed her away thinking it would make Mikael think you didn't care about her," Freya said finally understanding the method to her brother's madness.

"I played right into his hands and now Caroline is in danger because of me," Klaus said.

"We need to regroup let's head back to the apartment and come up with a plan," Bonnie said. 

* * *

They had been arguing for about an hour and they didn’t seem to be headed anywhere. They had tried scrying spells and locator spells and had come up empty. Mikael was probably blocking them. It should be said that none of them were drunk anyone, Caroline being taken had sobered them up.

“What if we trace a call?” Katherine said.

“A call?” Enzo wondered.

“Yeah, like they do in cop-shows except with magic. Klaus here calls the big bad while Bonnie, Freya, Rebekah, and Kol trace the call.” Katherine explained.

“It’s so bizarre it almost could work,” Kol pointed out.

“There’s just one problem with that,” Rebekah said.

“Which is?” Bonnie asked.

“Any of you have Damon Salvatore’s number or better yet Mikael’s?” Rebekah said as they all shook their heads no. While normally Klaus would be honored by the fact that his siblings had truly chosen him over their father; right now it was very bloody inconvenient. Then he remembered another of Mikael’s taunts.

“I don’t but I know who has a way of contacting him,” Klaus said.

“Who?” Enzo asked.

“Elijah,” Klaus said, “Mikael said Elijah was the one to tell him about my search for the Moonstone, he might have even been the one to tell him about Caroline.”

“That can’t be,” Rebekah said, shocked, Enzo grabbed her hand and gave it a comforting squeeze. It couldn’t be easy finding out your brother had sold out your other brother.

“It actually would not surprise me,” Freya mentioned.

“Two kinds of people,” Kol muttered, mostly to himself.

“Elijah is on his way,” Katherine said.

“I thought he was ghosting you?” Bonnie said.

“Oh, he was but even he can’t resist naked Katherine Pierce,” Katherine said.

“You send him a nude?” Enzo asked slightly shocked.

“It was an older nude, but there’s no way he’d know that. I also added a nice all is forgotten if you get to my apartment in 20 minutes, my roommates are away and I’m feeling horny,” Katherine said saying the last part in a fake sultry voice.

“Is it really forgotten?” Kol wondered.

“If the asshole had a hand in my best friend getting captured, then I might just drive the stake through his heart myself, no matter whose brother he is,” Katherine said exchanging a look with Klaus. At that moment Klaus Mikaelson and Katherine Pierce shared an understanding, no one would hurt Caroline on their watch. 

Sure enough 15 minutes later Elijah was basically walking through the front door, he’d come to the apartment before so he had an invitation. But just in case, Katherine still opened the door to him in one of her fanciest robes and led him inside locking the door behind him.

“Hello Elijah, surprised to see us?” Klaus asked. Everyone had more or less scattered into the sides of the room. Klaus was sitting on the couch with Enzo and Bonnie. Freya and Rebekah were standing by the bar while Kol was leaning against a wall between the couch and the bar. Elijah turned to look at Katherine still standing against the door, but she just smirked at him. Hell hath no fury as a woman scorned indeed.

“Niklaus, what is going on?”

“Take a seat,” Klaus said, pointing to the empty seat next to him, Elijah did as told.

“You see I’m going to be asking the questions tonight, and well you better hope I like your answers otherwise,” Klaus trailed off and then hit his brother with the most wicked of grins, “Well you won’t want to see what happens if I  **don’t** like your answers.”

Elijah made a move to move and Klaus held up his index finger.

“I wouldn’t do anything if I were you, there are at least three witches dying to give you an aneurysm, and that’s not even counting yours truly. Not to mention the two vampires who are older than you and would most definitely kick your ass.”

“I’m listening,” Elijah muttered, trying to regain his composed persona.

“Have you been reporting my activities back to Mikael?” Klaus asked.

“How can you even think that brother?” Elijah said as Katherine signaled to Klaus showing him the wooden stake in her hand. Klaus used telekinisis to move it until it was an inch away from Elijah’s knee.

“Did you not understand me earlier? I meant I want no lies, **brother,** ” Klaus said, putting emphasis on that last word.

“It was only about the moonstone debacle, he knew someone was after it and suspected that it was you, apparently my reaction was enough confirmation for him.”

“And Caroline?” Klaus asked.

“The blonde vampire? Yeah, I mentioned you were working with someone,” Elijah said as Klaus magically threw a vervain-covered arrow into his shoulder, “I answered what you wanted!”

“You put her in danger! Mikael wouldn’t have known about it if it wasn’t for you!”

“I didn’t know she was important, I thought she was just a random vampire. It wasn’t until the dinner that I realized it. By then it was too late Mikael knew about her.” Elijah said

“Did you even try to do anything about it?”

“I can’t clean up your messes my whole life Niklaus,” Elijah said and Klaus slammed his fist on the table.

“You’ve never done anything for me, Elijah. I’ve cleaned up after myself my entire life. You didn’t even lift a finger when I was cast out. I was  **17 years old Elijah! 17!**  I was a kid. Before I knew it, I was homeless, kicked out of the only place I’d ever known by the man who’d used me as a punching bag for most of my life. Do you remember why I got kicked out right?”

“You wolfed out.”

“But you remember why right? Why I broke mother’s rule and shifted?” Klaus hissed in his face.

“Niklaus why is this relevant?”

“I was protecting a younger member of the coven, your girlfriend’s child, from a werewolf. I got kicked out for it. I didn’t have anything Elijah, Freya was the one that cleaned my wounds and found me a place to stay. She’s the one that helped convince Old Joe to give me a job as a waiter so I could get an income. So don’t you dare come and tell me that you’ve cleaned up my messes. Because the only thing you cleaned was your hands when you washed your hands of me.” Klaus snapped.

Everyone was quiet until there was a knock on the door, Katherine looked around the room confused as to who it could be. Everyone they knew with the exception of Caroline was here right?

“Should I?” Katherine asked.

“Open it,” Klaus said, in case it was news about Caroline. Katherine opened the door and Klaus saw Vincent and beautiful dark-skinned woman walk in.

“You made it!” Freya exclaimed.

“You needed us so we came,” Vincent said.

“Freya?” Klaus asked and Freya realized she hadn’t filled anyone in considering they all looked very confused.

“When we realized Caroline was missing I called Vin to tell him about it, to see if he could do something from over there, he offered to come help here instead,” Freya explained.

“I’m Vincent Griffith, Caroline is a friend if I can help in any way, please count on me and Ivy,” Vincent said introducing himself and his girlfriend Ivy.

“Thank you for coming, Vincent,” Klaus said shaking Vincent’s hand.

“Quick introductions, the vampires are Katherine Pierce and Enzo St John, they’re Caroline’s friends. That’s Bonnie Bennett and the twins Rebekah and Kol. The Judas in the seat is Elijah,” Freya explained.

“If he’s a Judas, why is he here?” Vincent asked.

“Because Klaus and Katherine want to keep an eye on him,” Kol said.

“Can we get back to interrogating Judas? Because my best friend is in the hands of a sociopathic witch who just so happens to be his abuser,” Kat said, pointing at Klaus and then continued, “and a vampire who just so happens to be her abuser.”

“Oh, and I knew he was a Logan,” Katherine added as an afterthought.

“Logan?” Klaus asked, confused.

“We’ll explain when we get Caroline back because I’m not going through that explanation twice,” Bonnie said.

“Elijah, do you anything about Mikael’s plans?” Rebekah asked.

“All I know is that he needed the moonstone, he was obsessed with it,” Elijah said.

“The moonstone, you found it?” Ivy asked.  
“I have it,” Klaus told her.

“There was a prophecy that states the moonstone resurfaces every 30 years and only on the cusp of a waning moon and a dark moon will the moonstone’s power be released,” Ivy explained.

“That’s tonight,” Bonnie said, they all knew what that meant. If tonight was the only chance Mikael had to break the spell on the moonstone Caroline was in more danger than ever.  

“Give me the fucking phone,” Klaus said as Katherine sent two phones his way.

“The number is on Elijah’s phone, but you should use a burner in case he tries to do the same we are,” Katherine explained.

“When did you steal my phone.”

“I had to erase all my photos from it,” Katherine said as if that explained everything.

“Good thinking, about the burner phone I mean,” Klaus said, “Is the circle ready?”

“The circle is ready. If Vincent and Ivy want to help they’re more than welcome,” Kol said as he showed Klaus the witch circle with a map in the middle.

“We are going to try and trace the call back to where Mikael is since he is blocking his location from us,” Freya explained as she took her place in the circle. Bonnie was in the middle with Kol and Freya on either side of her. Vincent took a place next to Freya as Ivy sat next to Vincent. Rebekah sat in between Ivy and Kol.

Klaus dialed the number and waited for it to be picked up.

_“I was wondering when I’d heard from you boy,” Mikael said on the other line. Klaus gave the all ahead for the group to start trying to trace the call._

“Where is she?” Klaus said.

_“It was so curious, you see, when the Salvatore told me they had caught a prey I figured it would be Rebekah or that idiot Kol. I didn’t think I’d get so lucky as to have the blonde vampire you care about so much.”_

“If you touch one hair on her head,”

_“Bring me the moonstone or else I’ll have to snap her neck for good this time, you have 2 hours Niklaus,” with that ominous comment he hung up the phone._

“Did we get it?” Klaus asked.

“We got a general area, not the specific place, but we know what part of the city he is in,” Bonnie said.

“See if the Salvatores have property there, that must be it,” Klaus said as Rebekah and Bonnie got to work.

“You’d need a Salvatore to get in,” Elijah pointed out remembering the boundary spells that Mikael had talked about.  
“Well, I know where we can go get an idiot Salvatore of our own,” Katherine and turned to Enzo, “Ready for a hunt?”

“You’re damn right I am,” Enzo said and with that, they left.

“There is something you should know about the moonstone,” Ivy said.

“Something else?” Klaus said.

“In order to unlock its spell, it needs the blood of both a vampire and a witch because it was sealed by both a vampire and a witch,” Ivy explained.

“Don’t tell me you’re actually considering giving it to him,” Kol said, seeing the expression on his brother’s face.

“If it keeps Caroline safe I’d do anything,” Klaus said truthfully.

“You know this is a trap right?” Kol asked.

“Of course it’s a trap, but this time we know it’s a trap and we’ll be prepared. For once we'll have the upper hand.”

“We just need to find her first,” Freya muttered.

“Well, we’ve narrowed down the choices for that, there are two houses that belong to the Salvatores in the area where the call was placed,” Rebekah said.

“We need to figure which one it is,” Klaus said.

“Should we try scrying for it again?” Freya asked.

“We got nothing last time,” Klaus reminded her.

“Yeah, but last time we didn’t have just two houses to focus on,” Freya said.

“I could help focus it even more, we’d just need something with a strong connection to Caroline,” Vincent explained looking at Klaus.

“Bonnie should do it,” Klaus said, he didn’t know if he counted considering how they’d left things.

“Klaus you’re literally wearing one of Caroline’s most prized possessions around your neck. You can do it. Don’t think about what happened, just think of Caroline and how you feel about her. Vincent and I will be there to help focus the spell,” Bonnie said and Klaus nodded caressing Caroline’s necklace. 

Before they could get to work they see Katherine and Enzo dragging a body inside the apartment.

“Meet Stefan Salvatore,” Katherine said.

* * *

While Katherine and Kol were  ~~torturing~~  interrogating Stefan about his brother's plans and whereabouts, Vincent, Klaus and Bonnie were finishing the preparations for the location spell.  

“Are you ready?” Bonnie asked Klaus.

“As I’ll ever be,” Klaus said as Vincent and Bonnie started chanting. Klaus focused only on Caroline. Caroline’s smile as she was dipping her onion rings into her mug of blood, Caroline calling him out on his fears regarding love early on, before they were even friends. All the tv shows she made him watch in hotel rooms late at night. The way she’d shot down a werewolf with a simple gun. Caroline singing along with the radio and getting them free drinks at random bars. Caroline’s argument about how the animal diet was actually crueler than drinking people’s blood because animals were mostly innocent while humans were dicks.

The necklace in his hand started twirling and twirling until it settled in a particular house, the Salvatore boarding house. Then it fell out of Klaus’ hand and landed at the location of the boarding house. The spell had worked.

“Now we just need a plan,” Bonnie said.

* * *

 Damon Salvatore was on Vampire Barbie duty and he hated it. Mikael said he wasn’t allowed to hurt her,  **yet**. So he was just biding his time, he was truly going to enjoy this.

“I don’t know why you look so smug,” Caroline muttered from her spot where she was chained to the wall.

“I won Blondie,”

“Sure you did,” Caroline said.

“I’m going to get rid of you and enjoy the moonstone, it’s win-win to me,” Damon stated as Caroline started cracking up.

“I’m sorry it’s just that you think you’re not only going to survive tonight, but also that Mikael is going to share the moonstone with you? That is truly the most hilarious thing I’ve heard in awhile. Thank you, Damon, I needed a laugh,”

“We’re partners in this which means we’ll share in the moonstone.”

“Right partners what did you do exactly other than just volunteer your basement?” Caroline wondered.

“I knocked you out,” Damon said.

“Oh yeah you’re so powerful you knocked out a vampire that was drunk on witch-wine, I’m so impressed,” Caroline said in a deadpan way. Before Damon could respond Mikael walked inside.

“Your boyfriend called,” Mikael said.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Caroline stated.

“Either way he’s coming here and bringing me that moonstone. You know what comes after that Miss Fobes?”

“You’re going to dance in the moonlight?” Caroline quipped and then he grabbed her face.

“You’re a clever one aren’t you?”

“My mother says I’m her special girl,” Caroline remarked.

“I’m going to enjoying killing you. Almost as much as I’m going to enjoy my stepson’s face as I kill you in front of him. He needs to suffer a bit before I kill him after all,” Mikael said as Caroline started trying to get to him.

“If you hurt him I will rip you to pieces,” Caroline threatened.

“I’d like to see you try,” Mikael said as he put the duct tape back on her lips before he walked out of the basement and motioned for Damon to follow him.

“Will the boundary spell hold up? I don’t want any surprises, Salvatore,”

“The witch assured me it would, the only thing that would hurt it would be if my brother Stefan got killed, and he’s well protected at the moment. Even then it wouldn’t break unless I stepped out of the boundary and I’m not planning to do that anytime soon,” Damon said cockily.

“Go check it,” Mikael commanded and Damon did as asked.

When he reached the door he thought he saw his brother at the window. He quickly made his way outside the door careful not to step out of the boundary zone.

“Stefan?” Damon called out as his brother appeared but Katherine was holding him, “Let him go bitch”

“Didn’t your mother teach you manners, Damon? That’s not how you treat a lady,” Enzo said showing up next to Katherine.

“That’s not a lady, that’s Katherine,” Damon said.

“I mean she does hold your brother’s life in her hands, so I’d be nice to her,” Enzo said.

“What do you want?”

“A hostage for a hostage Damon,” Enzo said.

“I’m not an idiot St John,” Damon said.

“Then come here and take your brother back,” Enzo replied.

“If you don’t leave I’ll make sure your little blonde friend in the basement suffers a lot more,” Damon threatened.

“So she’s in the basement thank you that’s all we needed to know,” Enzo said as Katherine pulled out Stefan’s heart from his chest, effectively killing him. For good this time.

“No!” Damon said running towards his now very dead brother, breaking the barrier and allowing for Klaus to sneak inside.

“Whoops,” Katherine said licking her fingers which were dripping with Stefan’s blood, “That’s what happens when you mess with my family dirtbag. You hurt my family, I take away yours.”  

* * *

Klaus sneaked inside the house after hearing where they were keeping Caroline. They hadn’t even locked the door to the basement. He ran down the stairs to find his brilliant, beautiful Caroline chained to the wall. He ran towards her and carefully removed the duct tape from her mouth.

“Klaus.”

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean any of the things that I said, I thought I was protecting you and instead I put you in more danger,” Klaus said.

“I know, Klaus I know, and I’m going to make you grovel for it, but you need to get out of here.”

“Not without you,” He said placing a kiss on her forehead.  
“Are you insane, he’s going to kill you,” Caroline said as Klaus got to work on removing her chains.

“I promised you I’d always come for you remember?” Klaus said.

“I remember,” Caroline mentioned as the Klaus finished taking the chains off and helped her to her feet.

“Let’s go,” Klaus said.

“Where are you going? The party is just getting started.” Mikael said showing up with a few of his cronies. Caroline looked at Klaus and then back at Mikael, they were truly fucked now.

* * *

Mikael and his witches had taken her and Klaus to the living room of the Salvatore Boarding House. Their hands were tied behind their backs, in Caroline’s case with vervain ropes. Damon came in with murder in his eyes and took the place of the witch holding Caroline with a bit more force than necessary.

“I’m going to really enjoy killing you,” Damon told her.

“Not now Salvatore, you’ll get your turn,” Mikael said then turned to one of his witches and pointed at his stepson, “Search him.”

The witch found a few crystals, a lighter and of course, the thing they were looking for, the moonstone.

“You never learn do you boy? You’ve always been weak,” Mikael said as the witch passed him the moonstone and he placed it on the altar.

“If I’m so weak why do you need all these witches to protect you from me? Shouldn’t your power be enough? After all, you claim to be so much stronger than me, so you should be able to subdue me easily,” Klaus said going directly for his ego.

“All I would need to subdue you is to threaten your blonde friend here but I guess Salvatore is good for that,” Mikael said and dismissed the witches leaving only Mikael, Klaus, Caroline and Damon in the room.

“I’m actually glad you’re here Niklaus, you can see me triumph were you failed, right before I kill you and your abomination of a girlfriend,” Mikael said walking up the stairs to where the altar was. Damon pushed both Klaus and Caroline ahead. Their hands lingered for a second as Klaus sent her a small knife underneath Damon’s nose. The idiot didn’t notice as Caroline started using the knife to cut at her vervain ropes.

Mikael had started chanting the spell needed to unleash the moonstone. It all sounded like gibberish to Caroline, a few minutes later he stopped. Just as Caroline had managed to free her hands. Mikael signaled to Damon to bring Caroline to the altar but this time he didn’t have it so easy. This time when he grabbed her she pushed him away. He fell on a chair in the altar, breaking it in the process.

Klaus muttered some words and his own bindings came off, shocking Mikael. Klaus and Mikael started fighting on one side while Caroline was fighting Damon on the other.

“Give it up Blondie I’m stronger than you, I’ve always been stronger,” Damon taunted.

“Maybe, but I’m much, much smarter,” Caroline said stabbing him with the small knife Klaus had passed to her.  
“You really thought this was going to kill me?” Damon asked incredulously.

“No, but this will,” Caroline said using his momentary distraction to push him against the very same chair he broke. Damon tried to get out of it but it was no use.

“Damon remember how I once promised that when you died the last thing you’d see would be my face smiling at you? That day has finally come,” Caroline said with a smile as she pulled out his heart killing him instantly.

Klaus wasn’t exactly having the best of luck. Mikael was a much better opponent than Damon after all. Caroline wanted to help but she knew this was his fight, and as Katherine or Enzo would say, _it was his kill._ So she watched as the two fought, they were well-matched, until Klaus managed to get the upper hand.

“Any last words old man?” Klaus said holding the knife above his heart.

“Any moment now my witches will storm the place,” Mikael spit out and Klaus couldn’t help but laugh.

“And you called me blind, look around old man no one is coming to help you. Your sidekick Damon broke the barrier spell by being an idiot, the children you called idiots broke down your wards and protection spells. While you were so focused on getting your so called revenge on me, all your witches were defeated by our witches. There’s no one coming to save you. This is your end. So I ask again, any last words?” Klaus said with a smirk.

“If you do this you can forget about ever regaining your place in this coven,” Mikael said as a last-ditch effort.

“I’ve never had a place and the coven and you know what? I’ve come to realize that I’m good with that. I don’t need you and I don’t think I ever truly did.” Klaus said and the words finally felt right to his ears, he had found his place, it was wherever Caroline was. He turned to look at Caroline and smiled before turning back to Mikael, “And as for my place? My place is with that maddening and beautiful woman. She is all that matters. And I’m not going to let you hurt her.”

With that he stuck the knife deep in his stepfather’s heart, killing him instantly and then let him bled out on the floor next to the husk that used to be Damon.

 

Caroline ran towards Klaus and jumped into his arms. Kissing him passionately which he eagerly responded to.

“You let yourself get captured,” Caroline said shocked.

“I was the bait, we knew he wouldn’t be able to resist,” Klaus stated and then told her their plan, “Enzo and Katherine were in charge of getting Damon to break the barrier so that I could get in. Once I did we knew I’d get caught, and Mikael would be so focused on me that he wouldn’t even realize what was going on. Rebekah and Enzo were in charge of bringing down all the wards and protection spells the witches and Mikael had cast.”

“That’s why you sent the witches away,” Caroline said connecting the dots.

“Freya, Bonnie, and Vincent were in charge of incapacitating Mikael’s witches,” Klaus said.

“Vin is here?” Caroline asked.

“He and his girlfriend came when they heard you were in danger,” Klaus explained.

“Oh, I get to meet the famous Ivy?” Caroline asked excited as the aforementioned witches walked inside the foyer.

“She’s back at the apartment right now with Katherine and Enzo cleaning everything up but yes you’ll get to meet her,” Vincent said amused.

“Yes!” Caroline said clapping her hands together, giddy with excitement.

“How are we doing outside?” Klaus asked.

“Every witch has been taken care off,” Freya said.

“We trapped them in a house so that’s something,” Kol said as he and Rebekah came inside.

“It was the best we could do in short notice, and the shack was abandoned,” Rebekah pointed out.

“A house or a shack?” Caroline asked

“It was tiny and had one floor and like two rooms it was a shack,” Rebekah argued.

“We’ll decide what to do with them later,” Bonnie said.

“Does that means it’s over?” Caroline asked holding on to Klaus as the ground started to shake. Unbeknownst to them, the moonstone had fallen to the ground right in the middle of where Damon’s blood and Mikael’s blood had spread and connected.

“The Moonstone,  **fuck** ,” Klaus said

“Guess it’s not over quite yet,” Vincent said.

“I’m confused.” Caroline said.

“Ivy told us that for the moonstone spell to activate it needed the blood of a witch and the blood of a vampire because that’s what originally bound the spell together,” Bonnie explained to her friend as things continued to shake.

“Klaus you have to finish the spell you’re the only one that knows it,” Freya called out and Klaus nodded kissing Caroline one more time before motioning for Vincent to take her away. Vincent grabbed Caroline and pulled her out of the house, not letting go until they were far enough away. Caroline was screaming and pulling but Vincent wouldn’t let her go. They had no idea what the moonstone would do. The Mikaelsons and Bonnie stared at Klaus finished reciting the spell as the cusp was at it’s highest point. Then there was a loud explosion and everyone was knocked off their feet. Caroline finally freed herself from Vincent and ran into the house. Vincent ran behind her.

The boarding house had tumbled but everyone was thankfully alright. Caroline ran towards Klaus and kissed him before slapping him across the face.

“Never do that to me again,” Caroline exclaimed.

“I'll try not to,” Klaus said before kissing her one more time.

“If you keep doing that I’m definitely going to puke,” Rebekah complained.

“Let them be Beks, you’re just as bad with Enzo,” Kol remarked.

“You can’t say anything either, with how you and Bonnie can be, no offense Bonnie,” Rebekah said.

“None taken,” Bonnie said as Kol helped her stand up.

“Why don’t we just go home and just drink and sleep?” Freya suggested.

“I really like that plan,” Vincent putting an arm around his friend as they made their way out of the house.

“What did the moonstone do?” Caroline asked

“We’ll figure it out, but we don’t have to figure it out right now,” Klaus said, "I love you Caroline Forbes with all my heart."

"So love is no longer foolish?" She said with a smirk.

"I'm willing to be foolish with you," Klaus said and then laughed, "that was terrible."

"It truly was, but guess what?" Caroline said.

"What?" 

"I love you too Klaus Mikaelson," Caroline said.

"Even when I push your buttons?" Klaus joked.

"Especially then. So what should we do now Mr, Mikaelson?” Caroline said resting her head against his chest as he rested his head on top of her.

“Whatever we want to do Miss Forbes, we can go to Rome, Paris, Tokyo, anywhere you’d like. The world is ours for the taking,” Klaus said giving her a kiss on the neck.”

“It sounds lovely, but we’ve got time for that later. Right now I really need a hot shower and if we take any longer our family is going to come looking for us,” Caroline pointed out.

“Our family, I like the sound of that,” Klaus said with a smile, they had both found the place where they belonged. They had found a family among their friends and nothing was going to break them apart now.

“So do I,” Caroline said kissing him again before walking out to of the house, running to hug Bonnie. Klaus following close behind her. 

He would follow her anywhere.

* * *

 In the end, the moonstone did seem to have an effect on the people who had been in that house when the explosion went off. It turned out that the gift was immortality. The vampire and the witch had created it so that they could be together forever without the witch losing her magic. The stone gave immortality to witches, but only to those that happened to be there when the spell was unbound. In this case, it was the Mikaelson witches and Bonnie. Vincent had gotten a hint of it, meaning he could live as long as he wanted but it wasn’t immortality. Which made him happy because he did not want to be immortal.

As the spell was created by a witch and a vampire, their immortality was similar. Like vampires, they could be killed, but it was a lot harder to do. Time officially stopped for them and that’s the part that mattered to them. Rebekah could spend her forever with Enzo, while Bonnie would not need to say goodbye to Caroline, Enzo or Katherine. Kol was delighted at spending an eternity with Bonnie.

Katherine had sent Elijah packing, she wasn’t here for someone that disrespected her and didn’t care for her best friend. She and Freya grew closer but there was nothing there, yet. Caroline gave it a year or two.

As for Caroline and Klaus? They could spend forever traveling the world and enjoying all the wonders it had to offers. There's a whole world out there waiting for them, great cities and art and music, genuine beauty and now they could have it. They could have thousands of birthdays, christmases, all the holidays. Thousands of more road trips and adventures.

Because wasn’t that the point of the whole journey after all? Finding someone that made everything worth it, finding someone that felt like home. Just like Caroline and Klaus found a home in each other.

**Author's Note:**

> As always the aesthetic leads to the tumblr post, feel free to reblog if you'd like <3
> 
> So that was probably the biggest long oneshot I've ever written. Please be nice, it is my first fic for this particular fandom and pairing.
> 
> I did try to write Elijah/Kat in this but in I'm still feeling ugh about Elijah and my girl deserves better. Even my muse was like yeah we're not doing that.


End file.
